Just 10 days after a 6-year-old shot his teacher during class, a gun trade show will feature a JR-15 .22-caliber long rifle meant for kids.
“The JR-15 is the first in a line of shooting platforms that will assist families in safely passing on the proud American tradition of responsible gun ownership to the next generation of recreational shooting and hunting enthusiasts,” the rifle’s description on the trade show’s website reads.
Student protesters, including at least one who is the survivor of a school shooting, are demonstrating Tuesday outside the National Shooting Sports Foundation and its annual trade show — called the SHOT Show in Las Vegas. Inside, gun manufacturers are promoting guns that are specifically marketed toward children, including the JR-15 and a building blocks sniper toy.
“The gun industry already markets so many of its products to children, but making an AR-15 for kids is a disgusting new low,” said Sari Kaufman, a volunteer with Students Demand Action, which is part of Everytown for Gun Safety. “Instead of seeing young people as an opportunity to boost sales and arm more people with weapons designed for mass violence, the gun industry should be working to make their products safer.”
Kaufman, Ade Osadolor-Hernandez, and Peren Tiemann are three of the young protesters from across the country from Students Demand Action, a gun control organization, who’ve gathered to protest the SHOT Show. The gun trade show has over 2,000 exhibits for sports, hunting, outdoor, and law enforcement industries.
The student protesters told BuzzFeed News that gun violence consumes their thoughts any time they go out in public.
“I really am just afraid to walk at night, to go to class, and obviously with the school violence epidemic and school shootings, I was even scared to participate in class,” said Osadolor-Hernandez, a 21-year-old student at the University of Chicago and board member of Students Demand Action. “I was always looking for the nearest exit.”
Before thousands of gun enthusiasts made their way into the Venetian Expo and Caesars Forum on Tuesday, they were met with billboards with Students Demand Action’s message: “Guns are the #1 killer of kids and teens in America.”
“We want to bring attention to the fact that while they’re partying, kids are dying,” said Tiemann, an 18-year-old first-year student at Miami University. “They won’t be able to ignore us any longer.”
The American Public Health Association calls gun violence a public health crisis and it is a leading cause of premature death in the country, responsible for more than 38,000 deaths annually. Less than three weeks into the new year and at least 1,954 people have died from gun violence so far in 2023, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive. More than 44,000 people died from gun violence in 2022. Gun violence is also now the leading cause of death for American children. According to a BuzzFeed News analysis, at least 117 children and teachers have died going to school, attending class, or walking home since the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012.
That kind of violence has led to a “lockdown generation,” as Tiemann called it, forcing students to participate in several drills at school per year to practice how they will respond if there is a mass shooting.

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