New York State Revises S.687 on Definition of Imitation Weapons

The new law makes imitation weapons easily identifiable, preventing them from being used to commit crimes and allowing law enforcement to identify a device as fake when assessing threats.

Recently, a Notice was posted to further clarifications on the definition of imitation guns:

Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 871 of the general business law, as added by chapter 475 of the laws of 1988, is amended to read as follows:

2. “Imitation weapon” means any device or object made of plastic, wood, metal or any other material which substantially duplicates or can reasonably be perceived to be an actual firearm, air rifle, pellet gun, or “B-B” gun; unless such imitation weapon:

1. is coloured white, bright red, bright orange, bright yellow, bright green, bright blue, bright pink or bright purple on the entire exterior surface or as the predominant colour in combination with other colours in any pattern; or
2. is constructed entirely of transparent or translucent materials which permits unmistakable observation of the imitation or toy firearm’s complete contents
3. has a barrel that is closed for a distance of not less than one-half inch from the front-end of its barrel with the same material of which the imitation weapon is made, unless it is a water gun
4. has legibly stamped thereon, the name of the manufacturer or some trade name, mark or brand by which the manufacturer can be readily identified; and
5. does not have attached thereto a laser pointer, defined for the purpose of this section as any device that emits light amplified by the stimulated emission of radiation that is visible to the human eye. “Imitation weapon” does not include any nonfiring replica of an antique firearm, the original of which was designed, manufactured and produced prior to eighteen hundred ninety-eight.

This law will become effective on November 14th, 2022 and will become more in line with the Federal law 15 CFR 272.

SGS offers a one-stop solution to all your toy needs, so that you can be sure your toys comply with relevant regulations and quality standards, minimizing the risk of costly toy recalls.

To learn more about our Toy Testing Services, please visit our e-commerce platform, TIC Mall.

For more information on this service, please contact our Customer Service team.

To obtain a copy in PDF, please click here.