Thirty online retailers have agreed to stop selling authentic-looking toy guns to New York residents, the state attorney general said on Tuesday.
The retailers sold the toy guns through a marketplace on Amazon.com (AMZN) where third-party companies can offer products to consumers, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said.
The state is among at least seven that restrict the sale of realistic-looking toy guns. The replicas have drawn increased scrutiny in recent years after incidents in which police killed minors carrying the fake weapons.
Tuesday’s announcement comes four months after Amazon, Wal-Mart (WMT), Sears Holding Corp’s (SHLD) Kmart and Sears chains, and California-based online retailer ACTA agreed to pay more than $300,000 to settle claims by Schneiderman that they were permitting the sale of illegal toy guns to New York residents.
The state requires that a toy gun bear markings on the sides and tip of the barrel to indicate that it is not a real firearm. New York City goes further in requiring that toy guns be brightly colored all over.
The retailers covered in the latest settlements sold more than 5,000 of the toys in New York, including more than 1,300 in New York City. The settlements call for them to follow the more stringent coloring standard set by the city for all New York state sales and includes more than $27,000 in total fines.
“When toy guns are mistaken for real guns, there can be tragic consequences,” Schneiderman said in a statement.
Last year, Tamir Rice was killed in Ohio by a patrol officer, who has said he thought the 12-year-old’s toy gun was a real firearm.
