Danish toymaker Lego has asked a Utah gun company to stop producing a product that makes a pistol look like it’s covered with Lego’s famous multicolored building bricks.
“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.
The design created a customized semi-automatic Glock weapon that has a strong resemblance to a Lego toy.
On its Instagram account, Provo-based Culper Precision, which didn’t respond to requests for comment, said it had made what it called its Block19 Glock “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.
“We here at Culper Precision are grateful for the attention that Block19 is currently getting across the globe,” the company said, adding that people have a right to customize their property and that responsible gun owners take measures to secure their firearms.
The product page for the Block19 has been taken down.
Shannon Watts, founder of the gun-control group Moms Demand Action, drew attention to the product on Twitter and said mixing a real gun with a toy’s look was “a recipe for disaster.
“We have already seen tragedies happen when unsecured firearms are around children, and they don’t look like toys,” Watts said.
Unintentional shooting deaths by children of themselves or others rose more than 30% between March and December 2020 compared to the same period the year before, the group’s research found.
That increase comes during a record-breaking surge in U.S. gun sales that began as the coronavirus pandemic took hold last year.
Utah, home to the Block19’s maker, has joined several other states in loosening gun laws this year by rolling back requirements for people to get permits to carry guns in public.
Lego — founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Kristiansen — takes its name from the two Danish words LEg GOdt, which mean “Play Well.”
