But a closer look entirely dismantles this idea.
Parents in households that enjoy a tradition of hunting and sport shooting have long since introduced their children to the activity. Responsible parents have for many years wrapped smaller and lighter versions of their firearms for presents under the Christmas tree as they begin to train their youth in the art of gun safety.
How many youngsters graduated from their Daisy BB gun to their first .22 rifle and were then taught the basics of handling a weapon?
Millions. But this enrages those who do not respect the legacy of firearms in this nation that far predates even the Constitution.
Front and center for the Illinois effort is advertising for the JR-15. This is a youth model .22 rifle that is patterned on the grownup semiautomatic firearms that are overwhelmingly popular among the shooting public.
Manufacturer Wee 1 Tactical touted the weapon as having safety features not found on any other model.
“The JR-15 youth training rifle is for adults who wish to supervise the safe introduction of hunting and shooting sports to the next generation of responsible gun owners,” according to a company statement. “Parents and guardians wanting to pass on this American tradition have been purchasing small caliber, lighter youth training rifles for decades.”
Indeed they have.
But Illinois lawmakers such as Attorney General Kwame Raoul expressed shock at the tag line “Get ‘em One Like Yours.” This is obviously targeting parents who want to pass along their shooting tradition, but that is too much for some state leaders to stomach.
Raoul claimed the marketing will entice young people to skip adult supervision and simply begin firing.
The AG cited previous efforts by states targeting the tobacco industry as his blueprint for attacking firearms manufacturers. “We’ve gone after the marketing that has historically driven up the consumption by minors for those products that are harmful to them. The firearms industry shouldn’t be immune to the standards that we put on other industries.”
However, as the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) correctly noted, tobacco and other products are not protected by the Constitution. The right to keep and bear arms certainly is.
NSSF spokesperson Mark Oliva declared, “They’re infringing on your Second Amendment rights by taking away your First Amendment rights.”
Raoul further asserted that he does not have gun manufacturers in his sights and said the state is not on a “fishing” expedition. But a violation of the proposed law, which anti-gun Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) promised to sign, carries a possible $50,000 fine as well as a court-ordered injunction.
Similar legislation is on the books in California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York and Washington. Each state but Colorado already faces a legal challenge, and none of the lawsuits have been settled.
The statutes are in effect in all except New Jersey.
Illinois recently passed a ban on so-called “assault weapons” as well as high-capacity magazines. As part of the state’s efforts to eradicate the Second Amendment, it has a licensing requirement for gun ownership, a 72-hour waiting period to purchase a firearm, and a red flag law.
None of these have even slowed down the skyrocketing violent crime rate suffered by Chicago residents. And cracking down on marketing aimed at responsible parents is not going to do the trick either.
Lawmakers are merely throwing everything possible against the wall to see what will stick. But progress in fighting crime is hardly going to be realized by going after responsible parents.
