Brazilian Police confiscated 300 realistic toy guns being sold in street stalls 200 meters from the national Catholic basicila of Aparecida, just down the highway from us about an hour. A 2003 law prohibits their manufacture or sale. The report said they came from China. The three vendors were "notified," says the report, which apparently means they were told it was illegal to sell the toys and were being relieved of their merchandise. Apparently they weren't even fined.
A policewoman said it would be hard to tell the toy items, which included fake machine guns, from the real thing, in a police operation. I guess crooks in Brazil don't actually fire their weapons, they just wave them to scare the police away.
Nobody asked how the illegal toys entered the country. Seems to me that would be a real story, but I guess investigative reporters are as extinct as the dodo bird.
Am I being cynical today, or what?