Retailers to pay New York $300000 in toy gun settlement

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Monday that the retailers also agreed to pay over $300,000 in penalties.

State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman tells The New York Times (http://bitly.com/1CRIyEM ) that retailers including Walmart, Sears and Amazon have agreed to keep realistic-looking toy guns off their shelves.

[The troubled legacy of toy guns].

State law requires toy guns be marked with bright stripes on the sides of the gun and the tip of the barrel, and in the city, toy guns must be brightly colored or translucent to differentiate from real guns.

A toy gun is displayed after being confiscated at an airport security checkpoint at the JFK worldwide Airport on November 18, 2014 in New York City. In September, police stormed an Ohio Wal-Mart and shot and killed John Crawford III, who had picked up from a store shelf an air rifle that shoots BBs.

The majority of illegal toy guns were bought online and shipped to New Yorkers, Schneiderman said.

New York State and federal laws have long restricted the sale of realistic-looking toy guns because experience has repeatedly demonstrated these toys endanger both their users and the public.

[Why this Manhattan gun store didn’t actually sell guns].

‎”There is a reason why selling life-like toy guns is prohibited in New York”.

Since 1994 there have been 63 shootings linked to toy guns in the state, resulting in at least eight deaths, according to Schneiderman.

Appearing on the Today Show on Monday, Schneiderman said those shootings are “unacceptable”, and he held up a neon-colored toy rifle as an example of the kind of toy gun the retailers will now be restricted to selling. Hiding a toy gun in his trousers, Rossen quickly turned around, pointing it directly at a police officer.

Wal-Mart will be required to pay $225,000 in fines to New York state, with the others paying more than $84,000 combined.

The retailers all received cease-and-desist letters from New York’s attorney general’s office in December.

Kmart also said it was satisfied with the settlement.

Wal-Mart said that fewer than 150 transactions involving items noted by Schneiderman occurred over the three years. “We are pleased we were able to resolve this matter, along with several other retailers”.