New York Consolidated Laws

N.Y. Penal Law § 265.35 (2026)

Prohibited use of weapons

✓ current as of May 2026

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§ 265.35 Prohibited use of weapons.
  1. Any person hunting with a dangerous weapon in any county wholly
embraced within the territorial limits of a city is guilty of a class A
misdemeanor.
  2. Any person who wilfully discharges a loaded firearm or any other
gun, the propelling force of which is gunpowder, at an aircraft while
such aircraft is in motion in the air or in motion or stationary upon
the ground, or at any railway or street railroad train as defined by the
public service law, or at a locomotive, car, bus or vehicle standing or
moving upon such railway, railroad or public highway, is guilty of a
class D felony if thereby the safety of any person is endangered, and in
every other case, of a class E felony.
  3. Any person who, otherwise than in self defense or in the discharge
of official duty, (a) wilfully discharges any species of firearms,
air-gun or other weapon, or throws any other deadly missile, either in a
public place, or in any place where there is any person to be endangered
thereby, or, in Putnam county, within one-quarter mile of any occupied
school building other than under supervised instruction by properly
authorized instructors although no injury to any person ensues; (b)
intentionally, without malice, points or aims any firearm or any other
gun, the propelling force of which is gunpowder, at or toward any other
person; (c) discharges, without injury to any other person, firearms or
any other guns, the propelling force of which is gunpowder, while
intentionally without malice, aimed at or toward any person; or (d)
maims or injures any other person by the discharge of any firearm or any
other gun, the propelling force of which is gunpowder, pointed or aimed
intentionally, but without malice, at any such person, is guilty of a
class A misdemeanor.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 6 cases, 1984–2013 · leading case: People v. Lobban, 59 A.D.3d 566 (N.Y. App. Div. 2009).

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People v. Lobban, 59 A.D.3d 566 (N.Y. App. Div. 2009). “The jury rationally could have found that the defendant did not fire a gun directly at the complainant’s vehicle (see Penal Law § 265.35), requiring an acquittal on that charge, but, nevertheless, that he had discharged the gun in such a manner that the complainants’ car was…”

People v. Burden, 108 A.D.3d 859 (N.Y. App. Div. 2013). “Prohibited use of weapons, on the other hand, requires the willful discharge of a firearm in a public place which is not in self-defense or in discharge of an official duty (see Penal Law § 265.35 [3] [a]). Based on these elements, the jury could have concluded that defendant…”

Joseph Fournier v. Eugene S. Lefevre, Superintendent, Clinton Corr. Facility, 734 F.2d 125 (2d Cir. 1984). “See N.Y. Penal Law § 265.35 . Fournier’s defense that he was merely trying to scare his pursuer, therefore, while it could stave off a conviction for attempted murder or attempted assault, was no defense against a charge of possession of a weapon with intent to use it unlawfully…”

People v. Marryatt, 156 A.D.2d 821 (N.Y. App. Div. 1989). “Finally, we conclude that the evidence supports defendants’ conviction of Penal Law § 265.35 (2) pertaining to prohibited use of weapons.”

People v. Smith, 254 A.D.2d 712 (N.Y. App. Div. 1998). “02 [1], [4]) and one count of prohibited use of weapons (Penal Law § 265.35 [3] [a]). He was sentenced as a second violent felony offender to concurrent, indeterminate terms of imprisonment of 21fa to 5 years on each count.”

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