Penal Law § 490.40 · Article 490. Terrorism
Criminal possession of a chemical weapon or biological weapon in the second degree
Text — Law content up to date as of October 23, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
§ 490.40 Criminal possession of a chemical weapon or biological weapon in the second degree.
A person is guilty of criminal possession of a chemical weapon or biological weapon in the second degree when he or she possesses any chemical weapon or biological weapon with intent to use such weapon to:
1. (a) cause serious physical injury to, or the death of, another person; and
(b) (i) intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
(ii) influence the policy of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion; or
(iii) affect the conduct of a unit of government by murder, assassination, or kidnapping.
2. cause serious physical injury to, or the death of, more than two persons.
Criminal possession of a chemical weapon or biological weapon in the second degree is a class B 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/PEN490.40
- Text hash
- sha256 61a0e29871099b245005b5a91da66ec81b3836fd121f44f37622c06ca3b16531
- 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.