INSIDER
- A Utah gun-modification company drew criticism for selling a handgun covered in LEGOs, making it look like a toy.
- Culper Precision said it would no longer sell the Block19 after LEGO hit the company with a cease-and-desist letter.
- The company said it added LEGOs to the handgun in hopes of "making the 2nd amendment too painful to tread on."
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
A company in Utah that specializes in modifying and customizing firearms has stopped selling a Glock handgun encrusted with LEGOs after the toy company hit it with a cease-and-desist letter.
Culper Precision in Provo drew backlash for its Block19 gun, which had various LEGO pieces superglued on it, making the firearm look like a child's toy.
"We have contacted the company and they have agreed to remove the product from their website and not make or sell anything like this in the future," LEGO said in a statement to Insider.
Culper Precision had described the product as "one of those childhood dreams coming to life" in a recent Instagram post.
"Our business is taking a firearm of known value and transforming it into a personalized invaluable treasure for a fair price," the company said in a statement on its website. "People have the right to customize their property to make it look like whatever they want. It is our business to assist firearms owners in making their guns better reflect them as a person and individual, our pieces speak to the owner of the gun as they have selected those options from a seemingly infinite range of possibilities."
The company also said it wants the Block19 to represent "the pure enjoyment of the shooting sports." Culper Precision went on to say covering the gun in LEGOs was an attempt at "making the 2nd amendment too painful to tread on." The company added that it hopes guns can be society's "great unifier."
Gun policy is one of the most polarizing topics in US politics. A recent survey from the Pew Research Center found that 81% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say gun laws should be stricter than they currently are, while 20% of Republicans and Republican leaners share this view.
"Decorating firearms with one of the most popular children's toys is a recipe for disaster," Shannon Watts, founder of gun safety group Moms Demand Action, said in a statement to Insider. "We have already seen tragedies happen when unsecured firearms are around children and they don't look like toys. Too many children's lives are cut short by unintentional shootings every year - and in the past year we've only seen these tragic instances happen more frequently."
So far in 2021, there have been at least 174 unintentional shootings by children, leading to 113 injuries and 70 deaths, according to data from Everytown. Last year, despite the coronavirus pandemic, the US had a 20-year-high of gun violence deaths, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive.