Cease and desist orders are being sent by the state attorney general’s office to several major retailers, including Wal-Mart, Amazon, K-Mart and others for allegedly selling prohibited toy guns online to residents of New York state.

One of the guns was reportedly sold at a suburban Rochester K-Mart store.

The letters, stemming from an ongoing investigation, call for retailers to immediately stop the in-store and online sale and shipment to New Yorkers of toy guns that violate New York state law pending the resolution of Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman’s investigation.

“When toy guns are mistaken for real guns, there can be tragic consequences,” Schneiderman said. “New York state law is clear: Retailers cannot put children and law enforcement at risk by selling toy guns that are virtually indistinguishable from the real thing.”

State law prohibits the sale of imitation guns in realistic colors such as black, blue, silver or aluminum, unless it has a non-removable one-inch-wide orange stripe running down both sides of the barrel and the front end of the barrel.

Schneiderman said Wal-Mart, was the subject of an earlier investigation by his office into in-store sales of such toys, which resulted in a court order prohibiting them from selling toy guns in New York state. It now appears that those sales have moved to the online marketplace.

Since 1997, according to the release, at least four people have been killed in New York state, and one child was seriously wounded, when law enforcement officers mistook toy guns for real guns. To report the sale of illegal toy guns, consumers are encouraged to contact Schneiderman’s consumer help line at (800) 771-7755.