Photos show kids as young as 6 handling guns at the NRA's annual meeting. Guns are the leading cause of death among US children.

Families were welcome at the 2023 annual meeting of the National Rifle Association, which began April 14 in Indianapolis.

"Make plans now to join fellow Second Amendment patriots for a freedom-filled weekend for the entire family!" the NRA website said.

All firearms at the exhibit had to be "deactivated by removal of the firing pin or other alteration so that they are rendered incapable of being fired," according to the NRA's Firearms & Product Display Regulations.

Once deactivated, the guns were "banded through the trigger guard" for display, the policy said.

Photos of children handling firearms made the rounds on social media, prompting an outcry from gun-control advocates.

"Eddie Eagle must be sitting on a nest somewhere because he was nowhere to be found this weekend at the NRA's annual meeting, where young children were handling weapons," Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action, told Insider, referring to the NRA's gun-safety mascot.

She added: "Responsible gun owners and parents would not allow a child to put their finger on a firearm's trigger while pointing it at other people — even if they're props."

Firearms became the leading cause of death for US children and teens in 2020, surpassing car crashes and sitting far above other causes such as cancer.

"It's more clear than ever that the NRA's goal was never to teach children about responsible gun handling but to market guns and gun extremism to a new generation," Watts told Insider. 

The NRA didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about the exhibit or Watt's comments on Sunday.

The annual conference came on the heels of mass shootings in Nashville, Tennessee, and in Louisville, Kentucky. Between the two massacres, 11 people died.

Top Republican speakers at the NRA conference, meanwhile, cited scripture and lauded the Second Amendment.

"This is not a gun problem," former President Donald J. Trump said in his speech at the meeting, according to The New York Times.

"Stop trampling on the God-given rights of the American people every time tragedy happens," former Vice President Mike Pence said in his speech, per the Times.

Wayne LaPierre, the longtime leader of the NRA, remained steadfast in his organization's mission, as protesters gathered outside the convention hall.

Demonstrators outside the meeting read off the names of about 1,600 children who were killed by guns in the past year, according to WFYI radio.