Illinois will soon outlaw advertising for firearms that officials determine produces a public safety threat or appeals to children.
Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker has pledged to sign this into law which targets ads for guns like the JR-15, a smaller, lighter version of the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle advertised with the tag line,
“Get ’em One Like Yours.”
The maker says it is deliberately made smaller, with added safety features, to fit younger shooters as they learn from adults how to safely maneuver such a weapon.
Don Harmon, who sponsored the legislation,
Some of the ads I’ve seen are just stomach-turning …”
A statement from the manufacturer, Wee 1 Tactical, said the gun has safety features found on no other gun,
The JR-15 .22 youth training rifle is for adults who wish to supervise the safe introduction of hunting and shooting sports to the next generation of responsible gun owners.
Parents and guardians wanting to pass on this American tradition have been purchasing small caliber, lighter youth training rifles for decades.”
The question of advertising toward children was included in an executive order from President Biden in March to stop violence. Biden also encouraged the independent Federal Trade Commission to produce an analysis of how gun-makers
market firearms to minors and … to all civilians, including through the use of military imagery.”
Snopes says it’s not a bad joke, it’s real…
New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Washington, California, Hawaii and Colorado have adopted similar plans. The shooting sports group has filed federal lawsuits in all but Colorado and none has been settled.
Illinois would be the eighth state to approve legislation that allows such lawsuits against firearms manufacturers or distributors.
The legislation comes after the deadliest six months of mass killings recorded since at least 2006.
Rachel Maddow’s report on the JR-15 and this new Illinois law…
Watch.
(Photo, website, MSNBC; via PBS)
