A company that likens guns to legos. The Toyman Said To Stop.

At first glance, the weapon looked like a toy whose building blocks were the ubiquitous red, yellow, blue, and green Legos.

But beneath the surface of its colorful shell was something deadly: a Glock 19 pistol customized by a Utah-based company specializing in firearm modifications.

Lego Group is a well-known Danish brand. vigorously protecting its intellectual property and likenessrecently demanded that Provo, Utah-based company Culper Precision stop selling the case. The price of the product, called Block 19, was between $549 and $765.

Objections came amid intense criticism of the Lego-inspired kit by gun control groups, who warned that kids might mistake Block 19 for toys. They said deaths from unintentional shootings by children have risen sharply since the coronavirus pandemic began last year.

“We contacted the company and they agreed to remove the product from their website and not to do or sell anything like that in the future,” Lego said in an email statement Wednesday. Said.

Lego declined to comment further.

In Facebook post On Wednesday, Culper Precision said it would comply with Lego’s calls to stop selling the product.

“After some communication with Lego, we have decided to remove the product,” the company said in the post, which sent a kiss emoji to all “haters” of Block 19.

A person who answered the phone at Culper Precision on Wednesday said the company would not have any further comment on the matter. The company declined to make its founder and president available. Washington post He said he received a dunning letter from Lego on Monday and that his company has sold less than 20 kits.

On a now-deleted product page for Block 19, which it began promoting in late June, the company boasted, “We’ve been making weapons out of blocks for the last 30 years, and we wanted to reverse the script to piss off my mom.”

Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, part of the Everytown for Gun Safety group, said in an interview Wednesday that she was dismayed by the toy-like appearance of the product.

“This is very dangerous and irresponsible,” he said.

Ms Watts said that, with many children stranded at home during the pandemic, the number of cases in which children in the United States were shot by killing themselves or someone else had increased by 31 percent from March last year to the end of 2020 compared to the same year. He said that even children who are educated about the dangers of guns in the home have trouble controlling their curiosity.

“When you compare the gun to a Lego toy, you make it even more attractive and dangerous to children,” Ms Watts said.

This wasn’t the first time an iconic brand tried to prevent its likeness from being used on firearms.

Sanrio, the Japanese company that licensed Hello Kitty, had previously sent a similar notice to a Texas store with the character on the guns. Houston Chronicle reported.

Short for two Danish words “leg godt” meaning “play well”, Lego is no stranger to checking out its likeness.

Founded in 1932, the company has filed a series of lawsuits over the years, accusing its competitors in Europe, Canada and China of using its intellectual property rights.

Lego in 2009 He denied permission to use Spinal Tap’s figures on a concert DVD from the group’s tour. The band wanted to include footage from a stop-action movie produced by a 14-year-old boy who used Lego pieces and figures to depict a concert performance of the song “Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight”. Lego said the video contained inappropriate language and its tone was not appropriate for the company’s target audience, children.