§ 270.00 Unlawfully dealing with fireworks and dangerous fireworks.
1. Definition of "fireworks" and "dangerous fireworks". The term
"fireworks," as used in this section, is defined and declared to be and
to include any blank cartridge, blank cartridge pistol, or toy cannon in
which explosives are used, firecrackers, sparklers or other combustible
or explosive of like construction, or any preparation containing any
explosive or inflammable compound or any tablets or other device common-
ly used and sold as fireworks containing nitrates, chlorates, oxalates,
sulphides of lead, barium, antimony, arsenic, mercury, nitroglycerine,
phosphorus or any compound containing any of the same or other
explosives, or any substance or combination of substances, or article
prepared for the purpose of producing a visible or an audible effect by
combustion, explosion, deflagration or detonation, or other device
containing any explosive substance and the term "dangerous fireworks"
means any fireworks capable of causing serious physical injury and which
are: firecrackers containing more than fifty milligrams of any explosive
substance, torpedoes, skyrockets and rockets including all devices which
employ any combustible or explosive substance and which rise in the air
during discharge, Roman candles, bombs, sparklers more than ten inches
in length or one-fourth of one inch in diameter, or chasers including
all devices which dart or travel about the surface of the ground during
discharge. "Fireworks" and "dangerous fireworks" shall not be deemed to
include (1) flares of the type used by railroads or any warning lights
commonly known as red flares, or marine distress signals of a type
approved by the United States coast guard or (2) toy pistols, toy canes,
toy guns or other devices in which paper caps containing twenty-five
hundredths grains or less of explosive compound are used, providing they
are so constructed that the hand cannot come in contact with the cap
when in place for use, and toy pistol paper caps which contain less than
twenty-hundredths grains of explosive mixture, the sale and use of which
shall be permitted at all times, or (3) bank security devices which
contain not more than fifty grams of any compound or substance or any
combination thereof, together with an igniter not exceeding 0.2 gram,
capable of producing a lachrymating and/or visible or audible effect,
where such device is stored or used only by banks, national banking
associations, trust companies, savings banks, savings and loan associ-
ations, industrial banks, or credit unions, or by any manufacturer,
wholesaler, dealer, jobber or common carrier for such devices and where
the total storage on any one premises does not exceed one hundred
devices.
2. Offense. (a) Except as herein otherwise provided, or except
where a permit is obtained pursuant to section 405.00; (i) any person
who shall offer or expose for sale, sell or furnish, any fireworks or
dangerous fireworks is guilty of a class B misdemeanor;
(ii) any person who shall offer or expose for sale, sell or furnish
any fireworks or dangerous fireworks valued at five hundred dollars or
more shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor;
(b) (i) Except as herein otherwise stated, or except where a permit
is obtained pursuant to section 405.00, any person who shall possess,
use, explode or cause to explode any fireworks or dangerous fireworks is
guilty of a violation.
(ii) A person who shall offer or expose for sale, sell or furnish,
any dangerous fireworks to any person who is under the age of eighteen
is guilty of a class A misdemeanor.
(iii) A person who has previously been convicted of a violation of
subparagraph (ii) of this paragraph within the preceding five years and
who shall offer or expose for sale, sell or furnish, any dangerous fire-
works to any person who is under the age of eighteen, shall be guilty of
a class E felony.
(c) Possession of fireworks or dangerous fireworks valued at fifty
dollars or more shall be a presumption that such fireworks were intended
to be offered or exposed for sale.
3. The provisions of this section shall not apply to articles of the
kind and nature herein mentioned, while in possession of railroads and
transportation agencies for the purpose of transportation to points
without the state, the shipment of which is not prohibited by the inter-
state commerce commission regulations as formulated and published from
time to time, unless the same be held voluntarily by such railroads or
transportation companies as warehousemen for delivery to points within
the state; provided, that none of the provisions of this section shall
apply to signaling devices used by railroad companies or motor vehicles
referred to in subdivision seventeen of section three hundred seventy-
five of the vehicle and traffic law, or to high explosives for blasting
or similar purposes; provided that none of the provisions of this
section shall apply to fireworks or dangerous fireworks and the use
thereof by the army and navy departments of the state and federal
government; nor shall anything in this act contained be construed to
prohibit any manufacturer, wholesaler, dealer or jobber from manufactur-
ing, possessing or selling at wholesale such fireworks or dangerous
fireworks to municipalities, religious or civic organizations, fair
associations, amusement parks, or other organizations or groups of indi-
viduals authorized to possess and use fireworks or dangerous fireworks
under this act, or the sale or use of blank cartridges for a show or
theatre, or for signal purposes in athletic sports, or for dog trials or
dog training, or the use, or the storage, transportation or sale for use
of fireworks or dangerous fireworks in the preparation for or in
connection with television broadcasts; nor shall anything in this act
contained be construed to prohibit the manufacture of fireworks or
dangerous fireworks, nor the sale of any kind of fireworks or dangerous
fireworks, provided the same are to be shipped directly out of the
state.
4. Sales of ammunition not prohibited. Nothing contained in this
section shall be construed to prevent, or interfere in any way with, the
sale of ammunition for revolvers or pistols of any kind, or for rifles,
shot guns, or other arms, belonging or which may belong to any persons
whether as sporting or hunting weapons or for the purpose of protection
to them in their homes, or, as they may go abroad; and manufacturers are
authorized to continue to manufacture, and wholesalers and dealers to
continue to deal in and freely to sell ammunition to all such persons
for such purposes.
5. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision four of this
section, it shall be unlawful for any dealer in firearms to sell any
ammunition designed exclusively for use in a pistol or revolver to any
person, not authorized to possess a pistol or revolver. The violation
of this section shall constitute a class B misdemeanor.
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