ALBANY, N.Y. — New York has a new law in place as of Tuesday targeting imitation guns that can be mistaken for the real thing.
The law Gov. Kathy Hochul signed bans imitation weapons that aren't brightly colored in order to make sure these fake weapons aren't used in crimes and aren't mistaken by police as the real thing.
"My top priority as governor is keeping New Yorkers safe, and that means cracking down on devices used to commit crime," Hochul said. "Restricting these realistic-looking devices will ensure misleading and potentially dangerous devices are off our streets, keeping kids, law enforcement and all New Yorkers safe."
Under the new legislation, imitation weapons must be easily identifiable by being white, bright red, bright orange, bright yellow, bright green, bright blue, bright pink, bright purple, or be made entirely of transparent or translucent materials.
The Attorney General's Office says those weapons have been used in hundreds of crimes and at least eight deadly shootings. There have been at least 63 shootings throughout the state that have resulted from people thinking the imitation weapon is the real thing.
There will be some exceptions, including on TV and film sets.
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