Keystone Sporting Arms walks back its Crickett model, which critics say is geared to children, after two-year-old girl is killed
The gun manufacturer Keystone Sporting Arms is in a defensive crouch this week. The Pennsylvania-based company has taken down a website for a popular product. When I called Keystone at noon on Friday I was immediately (and politely) referred to the company's lawyer.
Keystone is in retreat because one of the guns it makes for children, a lightweight, single-shot, .22-calibre rifle called the Crickett, was used Tuesday by a five-year-old boy in Kentucky to shoot and kill his two-year-old sister. The boy had been given the gun – full name Davey Crickett, a pun on the legendary American frontiersman – as a birthday gift. The siblings' mother was home but wasn't watching.
In the days since the shooting, Keystone has been singled out for making and marketing guns to kids (here's ABC, NBC, the New York Times). "At least one gun-maker is specifically marketing guns to kids," the lefty site Daily Kos reported.
At least one? Here's a list of 20. Google "youth .22" and find 87 models available from Bud's Gun Shop in Lexington, Kentucky, a couple hours' drive from the house where the girl was killed. It's not just rifles. Google "youth 20 gauge" and find as many models of short-stock 20-gauges. Want advice on what handgun is best for your kid? Guns & Ammo magazine says the "Beretta U22 Neo, Browning Buck Mark and the Ruger Mark III, just to name a few"; the Smith & Wesson forums agree on the Buck Mark and the Ruger and add the S&W 22A.
Americans are buying more guns than ever. The FBI reports that in 2012 nearly 20m background checks were conducted for gun purchases in the United States, up 20% from 2011. Under US law buyers must be at least 18 years old. There's nothing in the law about how old kids have to be to shoot or any supervision that must be provided.
Keystone appears to have been especially aggressive in marketing its youth guns, which are popular. The company produced 60,000 of its Crickett and Chipmunk models in 2008, according to its website. The guns cost just over $100 and are sold as "My First Rifle." The company had maintained a photo gallery of kids holding guns, now taken down. There's a video ad for the Crickett featuring an overjoyed kid getting one from his dad.
The National Rifle Association makes much of its efforts to educate children about gun safety. Central to those efforts is a cartoon eagle named Eddie, who advises kids that if they see a gun they should "stop, don't touch, leave the area and tell an adult."
The campaign has been criticized as a marketing ploy in disguise. Watchdog groups object to the use of an animated figure to familiarize kids with guns.
"The primary goal of the National Rifle Association's Eddie Eagle program is not to safeguard children, but to protect the interests of the NRA and the firearms industry by making guns more acceptable to children and youth," the Violence Policy Center, a Washington-based nonprofit, wrote in a 1997 report.
The NRA counters that the Eddie the Eagle program "has reached more than 26 million children – in all 50 states", and "Eddie Eagle is never shown touching a firearm, and he does not promote firearm ownership or use". Reported by guardian.co.uk 1 day ago.
The gun manufacturer Keystone Sporting Arms is in a defensive crouch this week. The Pennsylvania-based company has taken down a website for a popular product. When I called Keystone at noon on Friday I was immediately (and politely) referred to the company's lawyer.
Keystone is in retreat because one of the guns it makes for children, a lightweight, single-shot, .22-calibre rifle called the Crickett, was used Tuesday by a five-year-old boy in Kentucky to shoot and kill his two-year-old sister. The boy had been given the gun – full name Davey Crickett, a pun on the legendary American frontiersman – as a birthday gift. The siblings' mother was home but wasn't watching.
In the days since the shooting, Keystone has been singled out for making and marketing guns to kids (here's ABC, NBC, the New York Times). "At least one gun-maker is specifically marketing guns to kids," the lefty site Daily Kos reported.
At least one? Here's a list of 20. Google "youth .22" and find 87 models available from Bud's Gun Shop in Lexington, Kentucky, a couple hours' drive from the house where the girl was killed. It's not just rifles. Google "youth 20 gauge" and find as many models of short-stock 20-gauges. Want advice on what handgun is best for your kid? Guns & Ammo magazine says the "Beretta U22 Neo, Browning Buck Mark and the Ruger Mark III, just to name a few"; the Smith & Wesson forums agree on the Buck Mark and the Ruger and add the S&W 22A.
Americans are buying more guns than ever. The FBI reports that in 2012 nearly 20m background checks were conducted for gun purchases in the United States, up 20% from 2011. Under US law buyers must be at least 18 years old. There's nothing in the law about how old kids have to be to shoot or any supervision that must be provided.
Keystone appears to have been especially aggressive in marketing its youth guns, which are popular. The company produced 60,000 of its Crickett and Chipmunk models in 2008, according to its website. The guns cost just over $100 and are sold as "My First Rifle." The company had maintained a photo gallery of kids holding guns, now taken down. There's a video ad for the Crickett featuring an overjoyed kid getting one from his dad.
The National Rifle Association makes much of its efforts to educate children about gun safety. Central to those efforts is a cartoon eagle named Eddie, who advises kids that if they see a gun they should "stop, don't touch, leave the area and tell an adult."
The campaign has been criticized as a marketing ploy in disguise. Watchdog groups object to the use of an animated figure to familiarize kids with guns.
"The primary goal of the National Rifle Association's Eddie Eagle program is not to safeguard children, but to protect the interests of the NRA and the firearms industry by making guns more acceptable to children and youth," the Violence Policy Center, a Washington-based nonprofit, wrote in a 1997 report.
The NRA counters that the Eddie the Eagle program "has reached more than 26 million children – in all 50 states", and "Eddie Eagle is never shown touching a firearm, and he does not promote firearm ownership or use". Reported by guardian.co.uk 1 day ago.