Just 10 days after\u00a0a 6-year-old shot his teacher during class, a gun trade show will feature a JR-15 .22-caliber long rifle meant for kids.
\n\u201cThe 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,\u201d the rifle\u2019s description on the\u00a0trade show\u2019s website\u00a0reads.
\nStudent 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 \u2014 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.
\n\u201cThe gun industry already markets so many of its products to children, but making an AR-15 for kids is a disgusting new low,\u201d said Sari Kaufman, a volunteer with Students Demand Action, which is part of Everytown for Gun Safety. \u201cInstead 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.\u201d
\nKaufman, 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\u2019ve gathered to protest the SHOT Show. The gun trade show has over\u00a02,000 exhibits for sports, hunting, outdoor, and law enforcement industries.
\nThe student protesters told BuzzFeed News that gun violence consumes their thoughts any time they go out in public.
\n\u201cI 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,\u201d said Osadolor-Hernandez, a 21-year-old student at the University of Chicago and board member of Students Demand Action. \u201cI was always looking for the nearest exit.\u201d
\nBefore 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: \u201cGuns are the #1 killer of kids and teens in America.\u201d
\n\u201cWe want to bring attention to the fact that while they\u2019re partying, kids are dying,\u201d said Tiemann, an 18-year-old first-year student at Miami University. \u201cThey won\u2019t be able to ignore us any longer.\u201d
\nThe\u00a0American Public Health Association\u00a0calls gun violence a public health crisis and it is a leading cause of premature death in the country,\u00a0responsible for more than 38,000 deaths\u00a0annually. Less than three weeks into the new year and at least 1,954 people have died from gun violence so far in 2023,\u00a0according to data from the Gun Violence Archive. More than 44,000 people died from gun violence in 2022. Gun violence is also now the\u00a0leading cause of death for American children. According to a\u00a0BuzzFeed 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.
\nThat kind of violence has led to a \u201clockdown generation,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n