Two House Democrats have proposed legislation aimed at getting retailers to stop selling smartphone cases that look like real guns.

The bill from Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., is a reaction to news from this month that eBay was selling cellphone cases that look like handguns. That drew sharp criticism from Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who said he feared that police might see people as armed when they are not.

Engel agreed, and said he would write a bill to outlaw the cases. The item sold over eBay allowed people to fit their phone into a normal case that was attached to a handgun-like grip that looked like a real gun when stuck into the owner's back pocket.

"To sell these products to children – or to anybody – is reckless, and we should not hesitate to protect consumers and police from dangerous products like these whenever we can," Engel said at the time.

Engel's bill, which he proposed with Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., would let the U.S. Commerce Department ban the sale of these items, and impose fines on companies that violate the ban.

Before he introduced it, Engel wrote to both the Commerce Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to join forces and offer guidance that might allow these items to be banned under current law.

Engel and Schumer said the novelty item may already be in violation of federal law that prevents the sale of goods that look exactly like guns. That law requires major parts of those items to be orange to ensure it looks like a toy instead of the real thing.

In early July, eBay said it would stop selling cellphone cases that look like handguns.

"eBay is in agreement with Senator Schumer and has already began removing listings for this item from our marketplace," the company said in a statement, according to the New York Daily News. "They violate our 'replica gun policy' and pose a safety threat to consumers."