The first episode of Sacha Baron Cohen’s new series, Who is America?, launched on Sunday, with guns blazing. One of the most talked-about segments of the show, titled Kill or Be Killed, involves Baron Cohen posing as Col Erran Morad, an Israeli security expert who has devised a “Kinderguardians” scheme that teaches preschoolers to use firearms so they can defend themselves in school shootings.

Morad gets two sitting Republican congressmen, Dana Rohrabacher of California and Joe Wilson of South Carolina, to enthusiastically endorse the program. The former Senate Republican leader Trent Lott and former congressman Joe Walsh, now a talk radio host, also appear in the instructional video, with Walsh explaining to viewers that Kinderguardians “introduces specially selected children, from 12 to four years old, to pistols, rifles, semi-automatics and a rudimentary knowledge of mortars. In less than a month, a first-grader can become a first grenade-er”.

Who is America?

Larry Pratt, the executive director emeritus of Gun Owners of America also makes an appearance in the spoof instructional video. Reading off a teleprompter, Pratt explains that there are biological reasons why kids make great shooters: “Children under five also have elevated levels of the pheromone Blink-182, produced by the part of the liver known as the Rita Ora.”

Another gun rights activist, Philip Van Cleave, appears in the infomercial to show off stuffed animals with weapons inside such as the “Puppy Pistol” and “Uzicorn”.

Sacha Baron Cohen’s gun-for-kids program features a ‘puppy pistol’. Photograph: Showtime

While it may be shocking that Baron Cohen managed to get so many powerful Republicans to back the idea of giving guns to children, it is not very surprising. Kinderguardians may be played for laughs but it is not far removed from the way in which the American gun industry actively markets firearms to children now.

‘Start Them Young’

Household gun ownership in the US is steadily declining so recruiting a new generation of gun enthusiasts is a priority for the gun lobby. They are not shy about stating this either. A 2012 report by the Hunting Heritage Trust and the National Shooting Sports Foundation states: “It is important to consider more hunting and target shooting recruitment programs aimed at middle school level, or earlier.”

The report lays out a “Youth Hunter and Shooter Ambassador Program” strategy, in which kids are encouraged to influence their friends to get into guns. “[Y]outh ambassadors and others should focus on getting newcomers to take a first step into target shooting through any means … The point should be to get newcomers started shooting something, with the natural next step being a move toward actual firearms.”

Young children looking to get into shooting have plenty of options when it comes to guns designed just for them. A 2014 article on NRA Family, an NRA-run website, profiles Marlin’s “new kid-friendly rifles”. The writer enthuses that Marlin’s “new XT line of .22 rifles … are not just sized for kids; they’re completely designed for kids”. In fact, kids help make the rifles! We are told that “Marlin engaged in a lengthy research program using real kids as test subjects”. Kids were also invited to test the rifles at a special event where they were entertained by “Marlin Man … the mounted cowboy Marlin has used as a logo for many years”.

Crickett synthetic rifles catalog. Photograph: Crickett synthetic rifles catalog

Another article on the NRA Family website suggests kids might also think about using Thompson/Center HotShot rifle, “a tiny gun intended for the very youngest shooters”. A company spokesman explains that gun targets “the six- to 12-year-old range”. These come in a variety of fun colour options.

There don’t currently seem to be any “Puppy Pistols” on the market, but there are guns that come close. Crickett, for example, manufactures “quality firearms for America’s youth” under the tagline My First Rifle, which come in designs like hot pink and camouflage. Flanking all their promotional material is a cute cartoon cricket wielding a rifle.