N.Y. General Business Law § 870: Legislative intent

§ 870. Legislative intent. The legislature finds and declares that

there exists an unreasonable risk of injury and death associated with

the sale of toy weapons which are replica of and cannot be easily

distinguished from actual weapons; that in recent years the sale and

possession of these imitation weapons has grown; that in nineteen

hundred eighty-seven, more than fourteen hundred toy imitation weapons

involved in criminal incidents were confiscated by the police in New

York city alone, nearly eighty percent more than four years earlier;

that when such imitation weapons are perceived as actual weapons fear

and dangerous defensive actions often result. The legislature further

finds and declares that the purpose of this article is to safeguard the

public from the unreasonable risk of death and injury that may result

when imitation weapons are perceived as real, by banning the

importation, manufacture, distribution and sale of such imitation

weapons.