Too dangerous in the US: Toy guns, too many dildos and lawn darts

If high powered guns aren't considered dangerous enough to be illegal or banned in the US, then what is? The answer might surprise you.

US citizens have the right to bear arms under the second amendment of the American Constitution. But it comes at a price with nine mass shootings having occurred on average every 10 days in the US since the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012.

The most recent incident saw 59 people killed and hundreds injured when a gunman fired at a crowd of 20,000 attending a country music festival in Las Vegas on Sunday. It's become an all too familiar problem that has once again prompted debate about gun control in the US.

Mass killings in the US are most often carried out with guns, usually handguns, most of them obtained legally. Yet it's not guns that are banned, illegal or even heavily regulated in "the land of the free".

Instead, toy guns, too many dildos and lawn darts are among just some of the things that have been banned in the US because they were deemed too suspicious or dangerous.

TOY GUNS

In Las Vegas, it's illegal to carry a fake or toy gun but not a real one.

Clark County commissioners passed an ordinance banning "dangerous objects" from the Las Vegas strip in 2012.

The ban, intended to make the sidewalks safer, prohibited flame throwers, blades over three-inches long and toy guns.

But it didn't prohibit real guns.

LAWN DARTS

After a recent serious injury caused by a lawn dart, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission reissued its warning that lawn darts are banned and should be destroyed.

Effective on December 19, 1988, CPSC banned the sale of all lawn darts in the US. Pointed lawn darts, intended for use in an outdoor game, have been responsible for the deaths of three children. One injury took place in Elkhart, a city in Indiana, when a 7-year-old boy suffered a brain injury after a lawn dart pierced his skull.

"CPSC banned lawn darts in 1988, but some of these dangerous products may still be in garages, basements, or second-hand stores," CPSC Chairman Ann Brown said.

"Parents should destroy these banned lawn darts immediately."

DILDOS

You can legally own more guns than sex toys in Texas.

Possessing six or more dildos is illegal in the Lone Star State under a 1973 law which was introduced when the US Supreme Court overhauled obscenity laws.

The law prohibited the sale or promotion of "Obscene device[s]" mean[ing] a device including a dildo or artificial vagina, designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs".

Part of the statute said: "A person who possesses six or more obscene devices or identical or similar obscene articles is presumed to possess them with intent to promote the same."

Another Texas law permits licensed gun owners aged 21 and older to carry concealed handguns in most places on public university campuses, including dorms and classrooms.

"We have crazy laws here but this is by far the craziest, that you can't bring a dildo on to campus legally but you can bring your gun. We're just trying to fight absurdity with absurdity," Rosie Zander, a 20-year-old history student, told The Guardian.

KINDER SURPRISE (CHOCOLATE EGGS)

Childrens' favourite Kinder Surprise - a chocolate egg with a toy inside - was banned from entering the US market under a 1938 law which described the food as being a danger to children.

A US Customs and Border protection spokesperson once said: "While sold in many countries, this product is banned from the US because young children can choke on it.

"Working together at the Import Safety Commercial Targeting and Analysis Center, these partner agencies are able to co-ordinate and streamline federal efforts to address import safety issues, including the illegal importation of Kinder Eggs."