Gun Company Makes Gun That Looks Like It Was Made From Legos, Twitter Users Aren't Happy
Amid outcries from gun safety groups, toy company Lego sent a Provo, Utah-based company a cease and desist letter to stop producing "Block19," a multicolored kit that encases Glock handguns that look like they were made from Legos blocks.
The product is made by Culper Precision, which marketed it as “a childhood dream come to life.” The price of a Block19 ranged from $549 to $765.
"We have been building guns out of blocks for the last 30 years and wanted to flip the script to aggravate Mom,” Culper Precision posted on its official website. On its Instagram page, Culper Precision wrote that the product was "Super Fun."
Brandon Scott, the company's president, told the Washington Post that he would comply with the cease and desist letter.
The product had drawn immediate outrage. Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action, told the Post that after she saw the Block19, she was “sick and that children would die.” Watts posted several tweets about the Block19.
This "Lego Glock" is an actual thing you can buy, build and shoot: "...honestly what childhood toy is more welcoming than a big ole pile of blocks:” https://t.co/wBXl5GP6an
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) July 8, 2021
Unintentional shootings among children have risen by 30% in the past year. pic.twitter.com/ZmQXiefOE7
Federal law prohibits toys from being manufactured to look like guns, but no law prohibits guns from being made to look like toys. The gun maker says it would be a customer’s fault, not his, if a kid was injured by his Lego gun because gun owners should lock up their guns.
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) July 13, 2021
Last week, I tweeted about this gun meant to look like a toy last week and our organization reached out to Lego, which then sent a cease and desist letter to the reckless gun maker - he says he’s complying. Read the story here: https://t.co/hl5P7OKiVW https://t.co/SH4QbwHfPw
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) July 13, 2021
“We contacted [Culper] and they agreed to remove the product from their website and to not make or sell anything like this in the future," a Lego company spokesperson told NPR. https://t.co/9ziRLl58sm
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) July 14, 2021
Many others were bothered by what looks like a toy gun and reacted on Twitter.
A real gun—designed by a US gun company—that looks like a Lego toy.
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) July 14, 2021
Bad idea.
Bad idea.
Bad (can’t stress this enough) idea. pic.twitter.com/92zAal8egb
It will remain the world's worst idea until the posting of "Why I'm worried that banning the Lego gun will wreck Freedom Day", by Brendan O'Neill
— Steve Anglesey (@sanglesey) July 14, 2021
I did a little digging and it looks like the President of a Culper Precision who thought the LEGO gun was a great idea also runs a company called Brave Response Shooting that provides gun safety and training courses for “modern patriots”
— Kaz Weida (@kazweida) July 14, 2021
I really wish I was making this up. pic.twitter.com/p7S8aNGrzO
The nonprofit group Everytown for Gun Safety reported in May that from March to December 2020 there was a 31% increase in unintentional shooting deaths by children of themselves or others amid the pandemic, compared with the same period in 2019.
"Unintentional shooting deaths by children increased by nearly one-third comparing incidents in March to December of 2020 to the same months in 2019. The pandemic saw millions of children out of school while gun sales hit record highs, bringing more guns into homes. This resulted in a tragic surge in the number of children accessing firearms and unintentionally shooting themselves or someone else," Everytown for Gun Safety wrote.
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