New York Lawmakers Take Aim at BB Guns

New York Democrats have already banned so-called assault weapons, claiming (among other falsehoods) that they're too powerful for anyone to own, except for the military and police. Now they're targeting the opposite end of the gun spectrum, by going after BB rifles and air guns. 

ATTENTION CITIZENS OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK - YOUR GOVERNMENT IS WORKING TO BAN THE RED RYDER (and every other airgun) BY PLACING THEM IN THE IMITATION WEAPONS CATEGORY.
This would require a plug in the barrel and coloration to match toy guns. The plug alone renders them… pic.twitter.com/qzhmRNJU5X

— Daisy BB Guns (@DaisyRifles) April 11, 2026

Hard Air Magazine's Stephen Archer says there are bills in both the Assembly and Senate that would essentially ban all airguns by classifying them as imitation firearms. And as Daisy pointed out in its post on X, reclassifying them would mean that any airgun in compliance would be rendered unable to fire a pellet, bb, or projectile at all. 

There is a carveout in the bills for paintball guns, though the age to purchase them (and other "imitation" firearms) would be raised from 16 to 18. The ostensible purpose for the legislation is to curb the number of police-involved shootings of individuals who possessed an airgun that resembled or was designed to look like firearms that require gunpowder, not air, to expel a projectile. 

These imitation guns with realistic markings and design are becoming harder and harder to distinguish by law enforcement officers, who must make split-second decisions to determine whether a weapon is real or not. The Washington Post's Police Shootings Database, which aims to track the specifics of all police-involved firearm-related deaths since 2015, reports that more than 300 individuals were shot and killed nationwide by police while carrying imitation weapons.

In New York, the story is unfortunately the same. The Attorney General's Office of Special Investigation ("OSI"), is charged with investigating and, where appropriate, prosecuting all police killings in the state. In many of these investigations, a realistic looking air powered weapon played a significant role in a civilian death, with some victims as young as children. OSI's 2024 annual report notes that six people lost their lives over the three years, from September 1, 2021 through August 31, 2024, as a result of police mistaking an imitation weapon for a real
gun. In one particularly heartrending case, police shot and killed a thirteen-year-old boy who had fled war-tom Myanmar and who happened to be carrying a realistic looking imitation gun.

Imitation guns are commonly available at retail stores without identification, and continue to pose a real danger to consumers, law enforcement, and the public at large. Closing the loophole in state law will enable police officers and others to quickly distinguish air powered weapons from actual firearms.

It took some digging, but I did find some information about the incident involving the 13-year-old cited in the legislation. As it turns out, he didn't flee Myanmar. His parents did, and he was born in a refugee camp in Thailand before moving to the United States with his family when he was four. Police in Utica say the teenager was stopped when he was walking with a friend because the pair fit the description of suspects in a recent armed robbery, and when officers tried to pat down the teen, he took off running, and allegedly pointed a realistic-looking BB gun at officers before he was shot. 

It's one thing to argue that BB or pellet guns should have some characteristic that identifies them as such and not a traditional firearm, but the New York bills go much further than that. In addition to the new requirements for manufacturers, the legislation would also classify makers of "imitation firearms" as members of the firearms industry. That, in turn, would open up companies like Daisy to lawsuits when their products are criminally misused, or if the company engages in conduct "either unlawful in itself or unreasonable under  all  the circumstances," including conduct that "knowingly or recklessly create, maintain or contribute to a condition in New York state that endangers the safety or health of the public through the  sale, manufacturing, importing or marketing" of any "imitation weapon."

 New York's public nuisance law is already being challenged in federal court as an illegal end run around the Protection of Lawful Commerce In Arms Act, and a cert petition was recently filed at the Supreme Court in NSSF v. James. While New York Attorney General Letitia James is defending that public nuisance law, Democrats in the New York legislature are trying to expand it, and if they're successful it could mean the end of air rifles and BB guns in the Empire State.. or at least the lawful sale of those products. 

Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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