Yes, lawn darts are illegal to sell, distribute, manufacture, or import in the United States, and they have been since December 19, 1988, when the Consumer Product Safety Commission declared metal-tipped lawn darts a banned hazardous product.1eCFR. 16 CFR Part 1306 – Ban of Hazardous Lawn Darts Owning a pre-ban set is a different question. There is no federal law that makes possession itself a crime, but the CPSC’s official position is that every remaining set should be destroyed, and actually using one opens the door to civil liability that no backyard game is worth.
Which Lawn Darts the Ban Covers
The regulation targets any device with an elongated tip designed to be thrown outdoors and stick in the ground tip-first. The classic version has a metal or weighted plastic body, a metal shaft on the front, plastic fins on the rear, an overall length of about a foot, and a weight between a quarter and a half pound.1eCFR. 16 CFR Part 1306 – Ban of Hazardous Lawn Darts The piercing tip is what triggers the ban. Modern versions built with rounded, weighted, or foam tips that bounce or land flat are not covered, because they lack the design feature that made the original product dangerous.
The CPSC found that no feasible safety standard could adequately reduce the risk of skull puncture injuries to children, so a complete ban was the only workable option. Agency records connect the pre-ban product to at least three child deaths.1eCFR. 16 CFR Part 1306 – Ban of Hazardous Lawn Darts
Owning a Vintage Set
The federal ban reaches commercial activity: manufacturing, selling, distributing, and importing.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 2068 – Prohibited Acts No federal statute makes it a crime to have an old set in your garage or to throw them in your own yard. That is the narrow legal answer.
The practical answer is different. After a child suffered a serious injury from a vintage set in 1997, the CPSC reissued a public warning telling consumers to destroy all remaining lawn darts immediately and specifically cautioning against passing them on to anyone else.3Consumer Product Safety Commission. Following Recent Injury CPSC Reissues Warning: Lawn Darts Are Banned and Should Be Destroyed Legal to keep, yes. Safe or advisable, no.
Penalties for Selling or Distributing
Federal law makes it illegal for any person to sell, offer for sale, distribute, or import a banned hazardous product.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 2068 – Prohibited Acts A knowing violation carries a civil penalty of up to $100,000 per violation, with a $15,000,000 cap on any related series of violations. Those figures are adjusted for inflation every five years, so the current maximums run higher than the statutory numbers.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 2069 – Civil Penalties
Enforcement is real. In 1990, Caldor department stores paid a $50,000 civil penalty after CPSC investigators posing as shoppers caught the chain selling banned lawn darts more than three months after the ban took effect.5Consumer Product Safety Commission. Civil Penalty Paid By Caldor Department Stores For Selling Banned Lawn Darts
Garage Sales, Flea Markets, and Online Listings
The ban is not limited to retailers. The CPSC’s reseller guidance states that consumer product safety laws apply to anyone who sells or offers products for sale, including individuals at yard sales and flea markets, and that banned or recalled products should be destroyed rather than resold or given away. Not knowing about the ban is not a defense.6Consumer Product Safety Commission. Resellers Guide to Selling Safer Products The same rule applies online. Listing a set of metal-tipped lawn darts on an auction site or classifieds platform is a federal violation regardless of whether the listing labels them “vintage” or “collectible.”
Importing From Overseas
Buying banned lawn darts from a foreign seller is not a workaround. Importing a banned hazardous product violates the same federal prohibition as selling one domestically.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 2068 – Prohibited Acts Customs and Border Protection can seize prohibited merchandise at the border, and importation penalties tied to false statements about what is being brought in scale up sharply for fraudulent commercial shipments.7eCFR. 19 CFR Part 171 – Fines, Penalties, and Forfeitures
Civil Liability If Someone Gets Hurt
Using a vintage set on your property creates exposure well beyond the ban itself. If a guest or a child is injured while playing, you can be sued for personal injury. The fact that federal regulators ordered the product destroyed decades ago, after skull fractures and child deaths, is not a helpful fact for a defendant. A jury hearing that you voluntarily produced a banned product is unlikely to be sympathetic.
Homeowners insurance may not help. Many standard policies exclude coverage for claims arising from illegal acts or the use of prohibited products, and even without a specific exclusion, an insurer can argue that using a banned product falls outside normal coverage. A denied claim leaves you personally responsible for the judgment, including medical bills and potentially punitive damages.
How to Dispose of Old Lawn Darts
The CPSC recommends destroying lawn darts immediately rather than donating them, selling them, or handing them down. Bending or cutting the metal tips so they cannot be used and then disposing of them in household trash is the safest approach.3Consumer Product Safety Commission. Following Recent Injury CPSC Reissues Warning: Lawn Darts Are Banned and Should Be Destroyed
To report banned lawn darts being sold at a store, flea market, or online, use the CPSC’s SaferProducts.gov portal, call the agency’s hotline at (800) 638-2772 on weekdays between 8:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Eastern, or email a completed report form to clearinghouse@cpsc.gov.8United States Consumer Product Safety Commission. Public Incident Reporting – SaferProducts Your personal information stays confidential.
Legal Alternatives
Several manufacturers now sell redesigned lawn dart games built with soft rubber, foam, or weighted plastic tips that are rounded and blunt instead of pointed. They are also lighter than the originals and designed to land in a target zone without piercing anything. These products are legal to sell and are widely available at sporting goods stores and online retailers. Horseshoes, bocce, and cornhole cover similar ground with even less injury risk.