Gun-shaped cellphone cases are coming under scrutiny from Democrats who say they are dangerous and could lead to accidental shootings.
Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), who has previously introduced legislation to restrict these “dumb” gun-shaped cellphone cases, is now mounting a pressure campaign to convince Amazon to stop selling them on its website.
“Last year, Ebay took the responsible step of banning the sale of cell phone cases shaped like guns from its site, because the company recognized how dangerous those cases are to the general public and how problematic they can be for law enforcement,” Engel said Thursday in a statement.
“It’s now time for Amazon to do the same,” he added.
The Gun Look-Alike Case Act backed by Engel has gained little traction in the Republican-controlled Congress since it was introduced last summer despite attracting the support of a couple of his Democratic colleagues.
So Engel is appealing to Amazon to voluntarily block sales of the cases that third party retailers are offering on its website.
Gun-shaped cellphone cases are a “ticking time-bomb,” Engel said.
“It would be nearly impossible for a cop on the street to tell the difference between these cases and actual firearms,” Engel said. “It is not a question of if, but when a police officer runs into an individual holding one of these cases in a dangerous situation. The end result of that encounter could be tragic.”