Walmart fined for shipping realistic toy guns to New York, violating state law

Walmart agreed to pay a small fine and promised to ensure its third-party resellers are unable to sell realistic looking toy guns to buyers in New York, after state Attorney General Letitia James said Tuesday that the retail giant’s online store shipped them to the state.

The settlement comes nearly a decade after Walmart, Amazon, Sears and other retailers entered into a consent order and judgment with New York’s previous attorney general, in which they agreed to keep toy guns that resemble actual deadly weapons off their shelves statewide and they paid civil penalties that topped $300,000.

The 2015 order was part of a nationwide reckoning over realistic looking toy guns in the wake of the fatal shooting of Tamir Rice, a 12 year-old Cleveland boy who was killed by police in November 2014 while holding a pellet gun.

The New York law bans retailers from selling or shipping toy guns of certain colors — black, dark blue, silver, or aluminum — that look like real weapons.

Toy guns sold in the state must be “made in bright colors or made entirely of transparent or translucent materials,” with businesses subject to a fine of $1,000 per violation, according to James’ office.

James said on Tuesday that an investigation by her office found that Walmart’s online store had shipped at least nine realistic-looking toy guns sold by third-party sellers to New York City, Westchester County and Western New York.

But the investigation also found that between March 2020 and November 2023, at least 46 imitation weapons that violate New York state law were purchased by consumers in the state through the Walmart.com platform, the settlement revealed.

“Realistic-looking toy guns can put communities in serious danger and that is why they are banned in New York,” James said in a statement.

“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,” she said.

“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.”

Walmart must pay $14,000 in penalties and $2,000 in fees under the settlement, the AG’s office said.

That total of $16,000 is a tiny fraction of the approximately $49 million in net income Walmart earned on an average day in the most recent financial quarter.

CNBC has requested comment from Walmart, which neither admitted nor denied the findings by James’ office in its investigation.

As part of the settlement, Walmart is required to prohibit third parties from offering for sale or selling any of the imitation guns covered by the state law to buyers in New York.

“Walmart shall terminate the ability of a third party from being able to list and sell toy guns and imitation weapons on Walmart.com when it has determined that a third party has engaged in conduct” that violates that restriction on three separate occasions, the settlement said.

And “Walmart shall implement and maintain policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent such third parties from offering for sale, exposing for sale, or selling Prohibited Items on Walmart.com for importation, holding for sale, or distribution to New York,” the settlement says.