Lego tells company to stop selling custom toy-like gun

Anti-gun-violence campaigner says she thought ‘children will die’ when she first saw the weapon

Culper Precision have come under fire for manufacturing a toy-like gun (Culper Precision/Instagram)

Lego has told a company to stop making a real gun that looks like it is made out of the toy bricks.

The colourful firearm has sparked a backlash in the US, with campaigners calling it “unacceptable” to produce a gun that looks like a toy.

Culper Precision, the Utah-based company who developed the gun – which they called the “Block 19” – “one of those childhood dreams coming to life”, and said that Lego bricks could be built onto it.

Lego told The Independent they had been in touch with the company following media attention surrounding the product.

“They have agreed to remove the product from their website and not make or sell anything like this in the future,” Lego told The Independent in a statement.

Culper Precision’s president told The Washington Post that the company had received a “cease and desist” letter from Lego.

Campaigners had hit out at the product, which looked similar to a Lego toy.

Moms Demand Action and Everytown, groups that campaign against gun violence, said: “With unintentional shootings by children on the rise since the pandemic and children at home during the summer, having a firearm that looks like a toy is unacceptable.”

Shannon Watts, the group’s founder, told The Washington Post that when she first saw the image of the weapon, she thought it was “sick and that children would die”.

In an Instagram post, Culper Precision said its “Block 19” gun was built “to create an opportunity to talk about the enjoyment of the shooting sports and the joy that can only be found in marksmanship practice and training”.

“Our business is taking a firearm of known value and transforming it into a personalised invaluable treasure for a fair price,” the company said.

“People have the right to customise 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.”