Penal Law § 490.45 · Article 490. Terrorism
Criminal possession of a chemical weapon or biological weapon in the first degree
Text — Law content up to date as of October 23, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
§ 490.45 Criminal possession of a chemical weapon or biological weapon in the first degree.
A person is guilty of criminal possession of a chemical weapon or biological weapon in the first degree when he or she possesses:
1. any select chemical agent, with intent to use such agent to:
(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. any select chemical agent, with intent to use such agent to cause serious physical injury to, or the death of, more than two other persons; or
3. any select biological agent, with intent to use such agent to cause serious physical injury to, or the death of, another person.
Criminal possession of a chemical weapon or biological weapon in the first degree is a class A-I 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/PEN490.45
- Text hash
- sha256 263ebdaf0b07d2bd39e45817f3bd0564d544c1e01eb775d18da35a366211f66b
- 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.