30 Online Retailers Agree To Stop Selling Toy Guns That Look Like The Real Thing To New York Residents

An example of a prohibited toy gun from Amazon, via the NY AG's office.

An example of a prohibited toy gun from Amazon, via the NY AG’s office.

After an investigation by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a long list of online retailers that sold authentic-looking toy guns through Amazon.com have now agreed to stop peddling the toys to state residents.

The AG’s office says 30 retailers from around the country that sold illegal toys guns to NY consumers through Amazon’s third-party marketplace platform will permanently change their business practices in the state.

Federal law requires toy guns to have an orange stripe near the tip, but New York law goes a bit farther, prohibiting the toys from being blue, black, silver or aluminum. Instead, they must be brightly colored or translucent, to mark the more distinctly as toys and not the real thing.

“When toy guns are mistaken for real guns, there can be tragic consequences,” said Schneiderman in a press release. “New York State law prohibits the sale of imitation weapons that closely resemble real guns. I will continue to enforce this law so that we can avoid putting both children and law enforcement officials at risk.”

The announcement follows a related investigation of major retailers this summer, including Walmart, Kmart, Amazon.com, and Sears, which all agreed to pay more than $300,000 to settle with the AG’s office, and agreed to comply with state laws.

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