WALMART has copped a $16,000 violation fine for shipping a banned dangerous item.
Those who bought the product could have ended up being killed, warned concerned officials.
New York Attorney General Letitia James revealed that her office has reached a settlement with Walmart regarding the distribution of toy guns that closely resemble real firearms within the state.
“According to New York law, it is prohibited for retailers to sell or ship toy guns that are colored black, dark blue, silver, or aluminum, resembling actual firearms,” her office stated yesterday.
It added, “Realistic-looking toy guns can be used to engage in unlawful activity and have led to several deaths and shootings across the state.”
In the U.S., 12 individuals were fatally shot by police while in possession of replica firearms, with three being under the age of 18, during the first ten months of 2023.
Firms which illegally sell or distribute realistic-looking toy guns in New York can be fined up to $1,000 per violation.
As a result of the settlement, Walmart must pay $16,000 in penalties and fees “and ensure that all its third-party sellers are unable to sell imitation toy guns to New York” according to James.
The department’s legal filing said that a “current investigation revealed that, between March 2020 and November 2023, at least 46 imitation weapons that violate (state rules) were purchased by consumers in New York State through the walmart.com platform.”
At least nine of these replica weapons actually reached consumers through Walmart Fulfillment Services, it added.
This was in violation of rules banning the sale of toy or imitation firearms that substantially duplicate or can reasonably be perceived to be an actual firearm.
The fake guns reached addresses in New York City, Westchester, and Western New York.
“Realistic-looking toy guns can put communities in serious danger and that is why they are banned in New York,” said James.
“Walmart failed to prevent its third-party sellers from selling realistic-looking toy guns to New York addresses, violating our laws and putting people at risk.
“The ban on realistic-looking toy guns is meant to keep New Yorkers safe and my office will not hesitate to hold any business that violates that law accountable,” she added.
Walmart failed to prevent its third-party sellers from selling realistic-looking toy guns to New York addresses, violating our laws and putting people at risk
Walmart was ordered to pay $14,000 in penalties and $2,000 in fees to the state for illegally shipping realistic-looking toy guns to New York addresses.
Toy guns sold in New York must be made in bright colors or made entirely of transparent or translucent materials.
What are the rules for toy guns?
In the U.S., most toy guns must have either a brightly colored tip or colors along the body to distinguish them from real guns.
For example, the neon colors on Nerf water guns or the orange nub on the muzzle of a toy pistol.
Since 1989, it’s been illegal to “ship, transport, or receive any toy, look-alike, or imitation firearm” without those markings.
The law says: “The term ‘look-alike firearm’ means any imitation of any original firearm which was manufactured, designed, and produced since 1898, including and limited to toy guns, water guns, replica nonguns, and air-soft guns firing nonmetallic projectiles.
“Such term does not include any look-alike, nonfiring, collector replica of an antique firearm developed prior to 1898, or traditional B–B, paint-ball, or pellet-firing air guns that expel a projectile through the force of air pressure.”
Sources: CBS News and US Code 5001
It’s been illegal since 1989 to “ship, transport, or receive any toy, look-alike, or imitation firearm” without those special markings.
The Supreme Court ruled that year that law enforcement officers could use deadly force in incidents they reasonably believed “the subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or another person.”
This includes in call-outs where officers are unable to establish whether a weapon is a non-lethal BB or pellet gun – and are therefore legally allowed to use deadly force.
Walmart has been told in the legal filing that it must “prohibit third parties from offering for sale, exposing for sale, or selling, any prohibited items for shipments to New York.”
It added, “Walmart shall terminate the ability of a third party from being able to list and sell toy guns and imitation weapons on
Walmart.com.”
WALMART RESPONDS
A spokeswoman for Walmart said, “We are committed to complying with all laws, and we have processes in place to ensure products offered for sale by third-party sellers on our marketplace comply with all applicable laws as well.”
What are New York’s toy gun laws?
New York’s general business law section 872 prohibitions states:
“No person, firm, corporation or agent or employee thereof shall import, manufacture, sell, hold for sale or distribute within the state any imitation weapon unless such device is imported, manufactured, sold, held for sale and distributed:
- Solely for subsequent transportation in interstate commerce; or
- Solely for lawful use in a theatrical production, including a motion picture, television or stage production.
Source: New York Public Law
FATAL SHOOTINGS
Using fake guns has ended in tragic deaths numerous times in New York.
Just last June, there was outrage after a cop in New York state fatally shot Nyah Mway, 13, after the boy ran from police while holding a replica handgun.
It was later determined to be a replica of a Glock 17 weapon – that could only fire pellets or BBs.
The New York attorney general’s office said in April this year that it would not file charges against the officer as it did not believe the evidence would convince a jury the officer’s use of force was unjustified.
In 2018, police in New York shot and killed a man carrying a metal pipe – after mistaking it for a gun.
The victim, 34-year-old Saheed Vassell, “took a two-handed shooting stance and pointed an object at the approaching officers, two of whom were in uniform”, said NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan.
COPS’ DILEMMA
Jim Balthazar, a retired special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told CBS News in 2023, “It presents a dilemma for law enforcement officers because it looks so real that officers are going to have to react as if it’s a real gun.
“If it’s very close, it’s not something they’re gonna bet their life on and hope that it’s a toy.”
Elsewhere in the US, Tamir Rice, 12, was shot dead by police Officer Timonthy Loehmann after he was found playing with a pellet gun outside a recreation center in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2014.
Loehmann and officer Frank Garmback were dispatched to the recreation center after a man who was waiting for a bus called 911 and said a “guy” was pointing a gun.
In 2020, the Department of Justice said that federal criminal charges would not be brought against the two cops, as video of the shooting was too low quality for prosecutors to definitively determine what had happened.
