Posted on 04/11/2003 8:54:51 AM PDT by Brian S
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Thursday suspended sales of toy guns in its stores throughout the state of New York, only hours after Atty. Gen. Eliot Spitzer sued the world's biggest retailer, accusing it of selling such toys without required safety markings to distinguish them from real weapons.
The toy guns have orange caps on their barrels, as required by federal law, but they don't have nonremovable orange stripes down the barrel's length as New York law requires, Spitzer's lawsuit contends.
Safety experts say the brightly colored markings help police officers distinguish toy guns from real weapons, and that the permanent stripes are important because the plastic barrel caps can fall off or be removed.
"In our continued efforts to be a responsible retailer, we have made the decision to suspend sales of all toy cap guns in New York," the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer said. "This decision is based on the belief by the attorney general that some of the toy cap guns we are selling do not comply with the law."
(Excerpt) Read more at sunspot.net ...
The sad thing is, most polls show Spitzer as the most popular pol in NY State. Its either City Hall or the Governor's mansion for him next.
Sad indeed. I've got a picture somewhere of our 3rd grade class many years ago from "Texas History Day." All the plastic rifles are visible, as is the chalk board and everything else you'd expect to find in a classroom. Someone did a civil war project for it is well and, in addition to a toy rifle, had a union and confederate flag side by side - another no-no in today's schools.
That was less than two decades ago, but is unthinkable today. I can only imagine what will it will be like 40 years from now. I suppose I'll be showing that photo to grandchildren, standing in disbelief, wondering if it is a fake and wondering why grandpa had so many "illegal" toys.
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