UNITED STATES: U.S. gun company Culper Precision is facing a backlash for producing a pistol that looks like a children’s Lego toy.
Utah-based Culper Precision said its customised Glock weapon, named Block19, was developed for the purpose of “pure enjoyment of the shooting sports”. But Danish toymaker Lego has written to the company asking it to stop producing the weapon, which bears the appearance of Lego bricks.
Gun control campaigners described the pistol as irresponsible and dangerous.
Culper Precision said in a statement that it had chosen to release Block19 in an attempt to show that guns were “for everyone” and that “owning and shooting firearms responsibly is a really enjoyable activity”.
In another statement, it said that the weapon could only be purchased by those legally permitted to own a gun.
Shannon Watts, of the Everytown for Gun Safety campaign group, said her organisation had contacted Lego about the customised Block19 last week, after which the Danish company sent a “cease and desist” letter to Culper Precision.
Watts condemned Culper Precision for its Glock pistol, saying there was a risk that children may be drawn to use firearms “even when guns don’t look like toys”, reported BBC.
Culper Precision president Brandon Scott confirmed to the Washington Post that he had received Lego’s formal notice and said the company had decided to comply, after having sold fewer than 20 of the Block19. The firearm appears to have since been pulled down from the gun manufacturer’s website.
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US President Joe Biden has made the fight against the “epidemic” of gun violence one of his priorities.
Watts told the Washington Post that “unintentional shootings have risen by 30 per cent in the past year.” Her first reaction upon seeing the gun was that it was “sick and children would die”.
She said that according to the organisation Everytown that in 2021 there had been more than 165 accidental shootings by children in the US.
Last year, more than 140 people were killed in gun-related incidents.
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