§ 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.