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FACT BRIEF

Did a Las Vegas gun show feature a 'JR-15' rifle made for children?

By Todd Butterworth
View this fact brief on The Nevada Independent
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YES

Wee 1 Tactical's "JR-15" rifle, which was recently featured at a Las Vegas gun show, is a compact semi-automatic youth rifle made to look like an AR-15.

The company markets it as a small, lightweight sporting rifle that parents can use to "introduce children to the safe, responsible use of firearms."

An AR-15 uses a .223 round with approximately twice the weight and velocity of the .22LR round used in the JR-15. The smaller .22LR is a commonly used round for target shooting and small game hunting.

Controversy surrounds semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15 given their use in widely-publicized mass shootings, including four of the five deadliest in U.S. history.

Between From 1982 to 2022, rifles were used half as often as handguns in mass shootings, and from 2015-2022 there were 1,573 murders using rifles versus 51,258 using handguns, according to Mother Jones and FBI databases.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Wee 1 Tactical Home of the JR-15
The Truth About Guns .22LR vs .223 Remington
Google Docs Gun Crime Data - Mother Jones and FBI
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
The Nevada Independent
The Nevada Independent is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news and opinion website founded in 2017 by veteran political journalist and commentator Jon Ralston. The site and its supporting channels are focused on ethical, unbiased and transparent journalism. In general, we aim to gather and disseminate important public information and increase civic engagement. We are supported by corporate donations, memberships, event ticket sales and sponsorships and foundation grants. We disclose all our members and donors. Donors have no influence over our content, ever. The Nevada Independent is the dba for Nevada News Bureau, Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit founded in 2010 by Elizabeth Thompson, who now serves as one of The Nevada Independent's managing directors and its Editor.
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Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.