live coverage here on c-span. senator schumer: i appreciate. we have had another terrible, terrible week. endless mass shootings. these turn our stomach. hurt our hearts. and every american is asking why. so we are here today to discuss an issue that relates to all of the prevalence of guns in our society going places they shouldn't go. we are discussing today a weapon that is currently for sale and being marketed to and for children. it has a disgusting name, it's called the jr-15. can you believe that?

the gun is called the jr-15. a spinoff of the ar-15. not overwhelm do we know the multiple mass shootings that have occurred, but a few weeks ago we saw in virginia, we watched with horror, as we heard about a 6-year-old shooter, 6, first grade, pointing a gun at his teacher. it's a painful reminder that weapons like this need to be reined in and not advertised to children. not only do they need to be reined in, the law says you shouldn't be marketing guns to kids. but there is a company in chicago that's doing exactly that. today i'm asking, the chicago area company that makes this sick weapon, the jr-15, might actually be breaking the

f.t.c.'s laws and regulations. the last thing we need to be doing is reducing in size these deadly weapons of war and marketing them to children. but that's what's happening. we must stop the reining -- raining of bullets across the nation and stop this horrible marketing campaign. not only so it stops, but so others don't do it. because if this is left alone, others are likely to do it as well. the f.t.c. has the power and the proof to take a hard look at this dangerous jr-15 marketing effort. today we are asking the f.t.c. to investigate the company that makes and advertises this.

supposed to look like the ar-15 but be marketed to kids. if there is any doubt that they are not marketing to kids, look at this person. it's put out by the company. young kid, and the gun. what are we coming to? people under the age of 18 cannot own a gun. so why is this kind of gun -- so why is the company so fervently marketing to kids? it's a serious question with federal consequences and that's why we asked the f.t.c. to investigate. i have sent a letter to the f.t.c. which i don't have here. the bottom line is simple. with the epidemic of youth gun

violence and mass shootings an idea like this, a children's ar-15, should not see the light of day. according to the company's advertising, quote, the jr-15 is the first in a line of shooting platforms that will, quote, assist families and, quote, functions like a modern sporting rifle, however. it functions like a modern sporting rifle. however most importantly, its small size, lightweight, and rugged construction and ergo tphoplics is geared toward smaller enthusiasts. no doubt they are marketing to kids. the stuff is despicable. so we want the f.t.c. to give it a thorough look. senator blumenthal. senator blumenthal: despicable is the right word.

but it is absolutely obscene and outrageous that the jr-15, otherwise known as junior 15, the junior 15, may be a smaller version of an assault rifle, but there is nothing smaller about the damage that it can do. and let's come right to the point. we don't need new legislation here. we don't need a new law. what we need is enforcement. the f.t.c. has the power, it has the proof. in these posters, in its ads, and in the statements of its owner who said, owner, said we worked hard on that logo.

it's pretty exciting. that keeps the wow factor with the kids, i think. this weapon and these ads are the joe camel of the arms industry today. the firearms industry has taken a page from big tobacco's book. in fact, they have taken the whole book, marketing to kids. that's where the money is. and here is the lesson of big tobacco. we can win. all we need to do is enforce the law. deceptive and misleading advertising is already against the law. saying that these firearms are safe or useful for any reason, marketing them to kids is against the law. to the f.t.c. i say, use the tools. use the law that you have right now. do not be intimidated or scared

by the firearms industry. they may be able to intimidate congress. they should not intimidate the enforcers. there is nothing junior about this kind of weapon as we have seen with 6-year-olds, 4-year-olds, teenagers using these kinds of weapons to do great damage in our society. senator markey and i have written to the f.t.c. previously, along with my colleague, senator murphy, and we are determined to that the f.t.c. will do its job. it doesn't need new tools. it has them right now. i'm proud to introduce senator murphy. senator murphy: i thank you, senator schumer, for leading this effort. grateful to all my colleagues.

this is an open and shut case. this particular company is obviously marketing to kids. that's the entire intention of the gun. let's just be clear. makers of ar-15's that are being sold today, that we think of as being marketed primarily to adults, are also being marketed to kids. on the day that the uvalde shooter turned 18 there was an ad by the maker of the gun that he bought, days later, that involved a small toddler sitting on the ground in a t-shirt that said, rascal, with an assault weapon in his hands. with a biblical proverb talking about training children young with an assault weapon in his hands. so this tactic of marketing to children, marketing to toddlers, encouraging parents to buy assault weapons for their small children, this isn't just about we won.

this is an industry wide practice that has absolutely devastating consequences. we know the rate of accidental shootings, the number of kids getting their hands on guns, is skyrocketing all across this country. i think we probably can pass additional legislation to protect our kids, man, we can just start by making sure that our existing agencies use the law that they have to make sure these companies are held accountable when they market weapons of mass destruction to children. i'm grateful to the big turn out here today. it shows you how many people all across this country care about getting this right. senator durbin: thank you, senator schumer. i have gone to the senate twice with these posters, letting the american people know what jr-15 is all about. we know the reality of gun deaths in the state of illinois. horrendous shooting at highland

park in the fourth of july parade. crippled an 8-year-old boy who will be in the wheelchair for the rest of his life. that's the reality of gun violence. this is an outrage. it is an outrage that the current laws of the united states of america basically protect and absolve thee companies from the same liability every other business faces. that's the reality. there is no exemption, there is no protection when it comes to this advertising. it is unacceptable for the federal trade commission not to really look at this in honest terms. this is an appeal to children for a product that is inherently dangerous. if there is one thing they should step in to do it's to protect these children. i'm sorry that the tactical company is based in illinois as i'm sure senator duckworth is. unfortunately they are trying to get children to start using military-style weapons. they want more americans to use

these weapons. and they are hooking them to the young with the jr-15. it's straight out of the tobacco company playbook. i know a little bit about this. you can recall what the tobacco companies did to addict people to tobacco at an early age. their deceptive advertising as mentioned. joe camel. once addicted to their products, poor folks suffered for a lifetime. the same is true with this appeal to children and to their parents of children to buy these weapons that the children themselves can use. would a small child be sensible enough to avoid using them? we have a 6-year-old in a first grade classroom. this is appealing to kids and it has to come to the end. senator markey: thank you, senator schumer. thank you for your leadership on this issue. we are here in an important fight for our nation and our

children. not even one month into the new year, and the united states is already in the midst of an alarming epidemic of gun violence n2023 we have seen 39 mass shootings. yet despite this epidemic and devastating effects on our young people, some weapons manufacturers are blatantly and unabashedly flaunting their efforts to market dead leigh firearms to children -- deadly firearms to children. in 2022 a company known as we one tactical unveiled the jr-15 which sounds a lot like the ar-15. of which it is modeled. this junior 15 is marketed as a kid friendly version of the weapon of choice used in so many mass shootings. last may i led 10 of my senate colleagues, including senators blumenthal, murphy, and padilla, in urging the federal trade

mission to investigate the marketing of these highly lethal firearms to america's children. after i sent that letter, we one tactical went dark. its website was no longer accessible. it stopped taking orders for its weapons. but now just three weeks after a 6-year-old shot his public school teacher in virginia, they are back again pushing its jr-15 seurbgeningly rebranding it -- sickeningly rebranding it as american family values. gun manufacturers are priming children to look to the day they turn 18 so they can buy an ar-15 and calling that american values. for decades the firearms industry and gun lobby have been targeting young children for financial and political gain. the industry consistently makes falls and misleading claims about firearm safety and

unfairly exploits children and teenagers through unfair and deceptive marketing practices that ultimately lead to fatal consequences, which we have seen time and time again. we know that the tobacco we know that the tobacco industry targets young children. my father who smoked two pack of camel day said he knew i was not smoking when i was 11, don't take the quarter out of my pockets. my father knew that. he died of lung cancer because he smoked. the tobacco industry knowingly murdered people in our country. the nra knows the same thing. so does this company. we know that what this company is doing is a violation of section 5 of the federal trade

commission act, and unfair and deceptive practice. it is well within that section. so we call upon, once again, the federal trade commission, to act. they have yet to respond to the letter of the 10 senators from last summer on this issue. it is time for them to act. we need a watchdog at the federal trade commission to take on this issue, the fight for public health in our country. we need to block these companies from advertising their lethal weapons to the children of our country. thank you, senator schumer. >> i join my colleagues in condemning this marketing campaign. i think i'm the only person on stage who carried an assault weapon for 23 years in military service and qualified as expert

level in firing those weapons. let me tell you these weapons are intended to kill enemy combatants, intended to knock down the enemy, ripped apart bodies so they can't get back up and shoot back at you in combat. these rifles are intended to kill enemy combatants wearing body armor, yet they are remarkably similar to the kind this company is trying to seduce our kids into coveting. the gun makers admitted it, they wrote the sickest phrase i can imagine, in 2021 in a press release claiming, bragging really, there jr 15, quote, operates just like mom and dad's gun. some of the children in these ads don't appear old enough to know their times table, some of these kids they are marketing to may not be allowed to cut their own dinner because mommy and daddy consider the knife too sharp.

we certainly don't see companies advertising tactical knives to children of this age and we would be just as upset by it, yet look at these elementary schoolers, looked at our babies and decided making a few more dollars is worth the added risk to these children's lives. they made the calculated, craven choice to value their own profits ahead of our daughters and sons's odds of making it to next year's fair. i went to talk to my daughter's memorial day class event, the teachers asked me to explain the meaning of memorial day, talk about the sacrifices our troops have made for our freedoms and rights as a nation including the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. as i was talking, my older daughter, my 8-year-old, i happened to look out the window into the hallway only to see my younger daughter in the middle

of a shelter in place drill. i watched in horror as her look cluster of 3 and 4-year-olds crouched down a small, as small as they could get, i watched as my baby pressed her head against the wall and put my hands over her head as if that was going to stop one of these weapons. she was barely out of her toddler years and she was already being taught how to try to survive if someone with a weapon of war comes into the classroom where she was learning her abcs, believing their right to fire assault rifles matters more than her right to make it to the age of 5. what i felt was horror and i know other parents felt the same as they tried to imagine the unimaginable. i have spoken before about researching ballistic backpacks and whiteboards for my daughter to have in the classroom. the fact of the matter is those pages are bookmarked in my phone.

that is the first time i have looked at them. facebook's employees cited their platforms ads as dangerous as reckless. we cannot and must not allow this to go on another day, another hour. we need the spc to act, they must begin the investigation. every minute that we let parasitic companies like this try to trick our babies into buying and asking to be bought weapons of war, we risk another classroom turning into a massacre. every moment we let this continue we risk having to bury another first grader. enough. let's end the sickening marketing strategy. let's ban, then we need to ban the sale of military style assault weapons altogether. >> thank you, leader schumer.

an invitation to join you in your leadership on this. i have the honor of representing california, where families throughout the state, particularly in three distant communities are in morning in the wake of three back to back to back mass shootings. i was just returning home from visiting the victims resource center in monterey park where a gunman killed 11 people. i received word that there were two more in certains, one in oakland, together those two incidents took the lives of 8 more californians. americans are sick of having our hearts broken. i am sick of having my heart

broken. to all the americans across the country who are demanding that congress take more action i want to be clear, it is republicans in congress who continue to value gun industry profits over people. leader schumer is right to call out the companies that are not just peddling weapons of war, but shamelessly pushing these weapons of war on our children. we are trying to protect schools, while we are working to protect houses of worship and dance halls and other places of comfort in our society, they are propagating a culture of chaos and fear where americans lives are worth less than the profits they can make

from a jr 15. i refuse to live in a society where we are afraid to drop our kids off at school, for the fear that a tragedy might strike either there or at a community in celebration, we will hold these companies accountable and continue to call upon our republican colleagues to stand up, to have the courage to protect our communities, to have the courage to save lives. we know assault weapons bans save lives by reducing the number of mass shootings. we know that universal background checks help prevent people in crisis from accessing deadly weapons. it is clear the gun lobby has had a grip on republicans in congress for far too long and as a result they have blocked meaningful progress but i have

hope, i have hope because year after year, the gun safety movement gets stronger and stronger. we passed the first gun safety legislation in 30 years, thank you, senator murphy. it became clear that our movement is growing stronger than the gun lobby. we will keep fighting because every step forward means preventing another monterey park, another preventable act. thank you. >> i think my colleagues for their eloquence on this issue. you've done lots of work. questions on this subject. >> president biden wants to ban assault weapons, why not force them -- >> bottom line is nobody cares more about this than me. i am the author of the assault weapons ban. we will keep working to get the

requisite number of votes to pass it. >> what is the agenda for you? >> no one thought we could get anything done. we have significant legislation done. we are can to keep at it. yes? >> those of us on this topic, can you explain what this would look like and what the final result would be? >> my colleagues have talked about it. they've done this with ads aimed at kids for cigarettes under their statutory authority, misleading and false advertising, that is where this would come from. >> obviously with some of the restrictive gun laws, what does it say that you have advertisers like this based in a state where guns are already restricted quite a bit? >> these companies are so bold they believe they are above the

law, they can beat the law in courts, just passed in the state legislature and assault weapons ban in illinois and republicans went to court immediately and gotta stay across the state so they have friends in high places and think they will prevail, they have republicans in congress who stopped efforts, so that is explained as far as i'm concerned, there's no legal explanation, just a matter of political power. [inaudible conversations]

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