Media Contact: Georgia Seltzer, (202) 822-8200 x104, gseltzer@vpc.org

Campaign Research Notes – February 4, 2025

In January 2022, the Violence Policy Center (VPC) exposed the launch of a marketing campaign by gunmaker WEE1 Tactical for the JR-15, an AR-15 assault rifle specifically designed for children.  

WEE1’s website and related materials (including hats, patches, and stickers) were dominated by cartoons of a skull and crossbones of a boy and a girl. On its website, the company boasted, “The BRAND is meant to be EDGY. We believe its [sic] exciting and will build brand recognition and loyalty!” In an official SHOT Show “Product Spotlight” video profiling the gun that year, WEE1 Tactical’s Eric Schmid explained that the logo, “Keeps the wow factor with the kids.” 

Yet by January 2023, following a national wave of negative publicity, WEE1 changed its marketing strategy as seen in a promotional flyer from the time. Gone were the skull-driven  “wow factor” graphics for “the kids.” Instead, the comparatively sedate flyer featured a little girl pointing the rifle toward the reader with her “Parent or Coach” by her side. Characterizing the mini assault rifles as “a small piece of American freedom” representing “American Family Values,” the company promised that the “JR-15 is the first in a line of shooting platforms designed to safely help adults introduce young enthusiasts to the shooting sports.” 

Well, that approach didn’t seem to work out either. Now, the founders of WEE1 are back with an apparently new company,  Mountain Billy Gun Lab, and what appears to be the same junior-sized AR-15 assault rifle, but with a new name: The GOAT-15, promoted as “The Lightest AR Style Firearms in the World.” This third-try wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing marketing effort promotes the GOAT-15 as a trail gun, “Meticulously designed for those with an active lifestyle looking for a lightweight, compact gun to carry while hiking or camping.” But dreams die hard. And while the overt grotesque child marketing of past years is gone, the company has embraced the more veiled coded language for youth marketing (i.e. “beginners”) that’s common in the gun industry.

According to the company’s website, “The GOAT-15 has been praised in the firearms community as the ideal training gun” and is “great” for “first time shooting” and “family range days.” A blog on the company’s website states, “Its smaller frame is perfect for those with a smaller stature, including many women and young adults.”

A second blog, under the subhead, “Introducing the GOAT-15: A Perfect Choice for Beginners,” states, the “GOAT-15 .22 long rifle from Mountain Billy Gun Lab stands out as an exceptional choice, especially for beginners.” The blog adds, “The ergonomic design ensures a comfortable grip, and the intuitive controls make it easy to handle, even for someone with little to no experience.” 

In addition to the GOAT-15 Helium rifle, which “sets a new standard as the lightest semi-automatic rifle on the market,” the company has also added an assault pistol, the GOAT-15 Atom pistol, which “offers comfortable handling and an ergonomic design for confident shooting at any level. Compact, reliable, and ideal for hikers and survivalists, it’s the perfect addition to any adventure.” 

For more information on how the gun industry markets their products to America’s children and teens, visit Marketing Guns to Children.