I found a virgn, new in the box, unused set of lawn darts (JARTS) and thinking how popular they are as a collectible I spent some time taking pics and prepping the listing, only to have eBay tell me that I couldn’t list it and if I tried I might get my account “reviewed”.
Here was my listing text .
Here is what eBay said -
Now, I know (now) that eBay does not approve, but are these Jarts actually illegal to sell or not, possibly on some other web auction service?
According to jarts.com yup:
I saw the following on a website, but that website also gave instruction how to construct them so I won’t link to it:
I followed the link to the CPSC site in your post and did a search on “lawn darts.” The first item on the list was CPSC bans Lawn Darts.
Thanks for the heads up! Looks like I own an illegal Box o’ Jarts.
*Time for mischief! *
I have to say that I’m amazed that only three children have been killed by Jarts. Those were some seriously lethal toys.
I looked for Jarts on eBay about a month ago…THere were lots of them for sale. But they all said something along the lines of being “collectors items” only…“not for use”. (I haven’t looked again though to verify if they were still there…sorry…I’m lazy).
So what makes this dangerous? Is the purpose to strike your opponent with one? I can’t think of another reason why they should be banned.
Jeeze, I practice historical martial arts which includes sparring and practicing tecnique with blunted and sharp steel swords. Obviously not the kind of thing kids should be involved with, will they outlaw swords too?
Perhaps in the future you’ll have more luck if you don’t draw attention to the fact that the product you’re selling has the capacity to put peoples’ eyes out. That’s what stood out to me when I read the description you posted on Ebay, anyway.
Oops, pressed submit too soon.
I wanted to say, that archery would also fall into the same category, no? I’m sure people have gotten hurt practicing archery, what’s the difference?
I looked in active and completed sales. There were Jart t-shirts and stuff, but no actual jarts (that I could find).
Does it say anywhere on the packaging “Made In Iraq”? Only, you know, these could be what everyone has been looking for for so long.
It’s so stupid that they ban things because dumbass kids get hurt using them irresponsibly, or because stupid people insist on playing near kids. It’s the same argument made by people insisting on handgun bans because children “accidentally” shoot their friends. A lot of dumbass kids are out there who have been raised on retarded TV shows, don’t know how to read, think Power Rangers are real and think that a pretend Superman cape will make them fly; these kids should not be allowed to play with lawn darts. Furthermore people shouldn’t be throwing these things while little kids are running around on the lawn in front of them.
Christ Almighty, when will people get some common sense? We live in a country where there are warning labels on every damn thing because some ASSHOLE out there hurt himself sticking a curling iron up his ass and takes it upon himself to sue the company that made it, thereby forcing them to treat all consumers like idiots and put warning labels all over everything. It’s enough to make me want to move to the goddam sahara desert.
My WAG is that the illegality is selling them as toys. The same as selling a toy car painted with lead paint would be illegal, but selling an antique diecast car in the same paint at an antique fair is legal.
And although obvioulsy with tongue-in-cheek, the OP did describe the objects as potentially dangerous. That’d be enough for the eBay legal boys to have a heart attack if legal action occured.
Ok, THIS I understand. Selling them as toys, and not labeling them properly as an adult game only is wrong.
But why BAN them. Did the government ask the people selling these things to label them as for adults only with all the warnings attached? Did they tell them not to sell the product to toy departments?
If they did and they said “no”, ok, ban them, but I doubt the company would have prefered that to simply changing the label!
They are dangerous because the whole idea is that you’re meant to throw them quite a long distance on a high trajectory, leaving ample time for some hapless bystander to position himself in the path; because they come more or less straight down, most injuries are going to be head injuries and serious ones at that. I take it that when you practice your swordplay, your opponent is at least aware of the potential for danger.
People look around themselves, but they don’t look up a lot; they’d be more likely to spot someone practicing archery (or spot the target, if there was one), than they would notice a silent dart falling from almost directly above them.
If you look at OP’s photo, the box is clearly marked as “for adults only” and “may cause serious or fatal injury.”
This blogger (?) claims it’s technically illegal to even play with them.
astro – if my email to you doesn’t make it through the spam filter, email me. 
There’s also standard procedures for any respectable archer, to ensure the neighbour’s kid doesn’t wander into the danger zone, which are hammered into anybody in their first archery class (or at least should be). I doubt comparable guidelines exist for Jarts.
I’m confident that these things would be classifiable as dangerous/offensive weapons in many places.
I wonder if selling curare poisoned blowgun darts on E-bay would be legal?
