Washington
AFP
An American company has sparked controversy by marketing a gun that looks like a Lego brand toy, as guns kill hundreds of children in the United States every year.
The initiative prompted the Danish toy manufacturer to formally notify the company in question. “Our organization contacted Lego, which sent a letter of formal notice to the irresponsible arms manufacturer,” Shannon Watts tweeted on Tuesday (13), founder of the Moms Demand Action association, which advocates for stricter laws on firearms.
Dangerously similar to a toy created with Lego parts, Culper Precision’s semi-automatic weapon has been dubbed “Block19” and costs between US $ 549 (R $ 2,700) and US $ 765 (R $ 3,800) . “It’s one of our childhood dreams come true,” the company said in a June Instagram post promoting the weapon.
“The guns are fun. Shooting a gun is fun, ”the deleted product’s web page read. “It is irresponsible and dangerous beyond belief. Even when guns don’t look like toys, kids can use them, ”Shannon Watts tweeted.
Culper Precision chairman Brandon Scott confirmed to the Washington Post that he received a formal notice from Lego and decided to fulfill their orders after selling fewer than 20 guns.
On Instagram, the company said that “we built Block19 to create an opportunity to talk about the fun of sport shooting and the joy that can only be found in practice and target training” and pointed out that ” people have the right to personalize their property to make it look what they want. “
The controversy comes as President Joe Biden makes tackling the “epidemic” of gun violence in the United States one of his tenure priorities. Biden introduced measures in June to curb gun proliferation at the federal level, but Congress is divided and Democrats are trying to push the bill forward.