The exhibit, named the Chicago Gun Share Program, was created by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence along with Chicago-based advertising agency Escape Pod.
"Our hope is to raise awareness of this important issue," Max Samis, press secretary for the Brady Center, told local TV station WGN. "We're hoping the Chicago community can take advantage of this… and learn how simple it is for a civilian to obtain a weapon of war."
Vinny Warren, Escape Pod's executive creative director, stressed that the installation was meant to spark a conversation on gun violence in the US.
The steel display took builder Nicholas Berg of Ojo Customs some four months to create, Reel Chicago reports. The conversation-starter also includes solar panels to power lights for nearby signs and an iPad that uses Square, a mobile payment app, to enable donations to the Brady Center.
The Chicago Tribune reported that the installation follows Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner's rewriting of a gun control bill on Monday to reinstate the death penalty for mass killers and those convicted of killing police officers.
According to the publication, the bill was added to a previous gun control proposal that would require a 72-hour waiting period before someone is allowed to purchase a semi-automatic assault weapon such as the AR-15, which is a civilian model of the M-16 the US armed forces use. The state currently has a 24-hour wait time.