Penal Law § 265.17 · Article 265. Firearms and Other Dangerous Weapons
Criminal purchase or disposal of a weapon
Text — Law content up to date as of October 23, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
§ 265.17 Criminal purchase or disposal of a weapon.
A person is guilty of criminal purchase or disposal of a weapon when:
1. Knowing that he or she is prohibited by law from possessing a firearm, rifle or shotgun because of a prior conviction or because of some other disability which would render him or her ineligible to lawfully possess a firearm, rifle or shotgun in this state, or knowing that he or she is the subject of an outstanding warrant of arrest issued upon the alleged commission of a felony or serious offense, such person purchases or otherwise acquires a firearm, rifle or shotgun from another person; or
2. Knowing that it would be unlawful for another person to possess a firearm, rifle or shotgun, or knowing that another person is the subject of an outstanding warrant of arrest issued upon the alleged commission of a felony or serious offense, he or she purchases or otherwise acquires a firearm, rifle or shotgun for, on behalf of, or for the use of such other person; or
3. Knowing that another person is prohibited by law from possessing a firearm, rifle or shotgun because of a prior conviction or because of some other disability which would render him or her ineligible to lawfully possess a firearm, rifle or shotgun in this state, or knowing that another person is the subject of an outstanding warrant of arrest issued upon the alleged commission of a felony or serious offense, a person disposes of a firearm, rifle or shotgun to such other person.
Criminal purchase or disposal of a weapon is a class D felony.
Source of truth
- Edition
- Law content up to date as of October 23, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
- Official file
- https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/PEN265.17
- Text hash
- sha256 19770c85e7d476960c8e26b920cf88fdf4fed5a468db77151acdd4bd5ec059ac
- Composed by
- gen_ny_statutes.py 2026-11-10: the Senate's Open Legislation law tree (GET /api/3/laws/<ID>?full=true) read in document order; the Senate's PDF of the whole law (GET /pdf/laws/<ID>?full=true), read with PDFium, prints the same words in the same order
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.