Senate Democrats on Thursday requested that the Federal Trade Commission investigate gunmaker WEE1 Tactical, accusing the Illinois-based company of flouting laws against marketing firearms to children.
The lawmakers argued that WEE1 Tactical’s JR-15, a smaller assault rifle modeled after the popular AR-15, is reminiscent of the tobacco campaign ads targeting younger consumers that the FTC cracked down on decades ago.
“I’m asking if this Chicago-area company that makes this sick weapon, the JR-15, might actually be breaking the FTC’s laws and regulations,” said Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat. “The last thing we need to be doing is reducing the size of these deadly weapons of war and then marketing them to children, but that’s what’s happening.