Dive Brief:

• New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has sent cease and desist letters to Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Amazon, K-Mart, Sears, and ToyAresenal.com to stop their sales of toy guns in New York.

• Under the state’s law, sales of toy guns are illegal unless they are unrealistic in color or design or unless there’s an unremovable inch-wide orange stripe on the front and on both sides of the barrel that can communicate to law enforcement that the guns aren’t real.

• Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is already under court order in New York due to another probe involving toy guns.

Dive Insight:

At a time when unarmed children and young people are being killed due to police fears, this issue is especially pressing. Realistic guns have been implicated in deadly misunderstandings between children and police, and many people on all sides of the gun control issue believe their sales should be limited.