I’m pretty sure that in NY that even applies to air soft guns that shoot the small soft pellets. Even ones that look like toys. (Of course people paint their regular guns goofy too.)
Here in Washington state some security guard (works at some clothing store) was parked outside a Big 5 and saw some kids going into the store carrying what he presumed to be guns.
He went out to confront them and a scuffle ensued. He ended up shooting and killing one of the kids (17 years old). The story is the kid was going in to try to get help on how the magazine worked with the gun.
Security guard is being held on murder charges. The boys tried to tell the guy they were pellet guns. The 17 year old dropped his to the ground when told to. But then the guard said he reached for his waist as if to grab another gun (there wasn’t one). Shot the kid 7 times. 6 times in the back. Oh - the off-duty guard was waiting in the car for his son to get out of karate class.
What a shame that off-duty security guard is now going to be tried for murder. I'm sure he's wondered over and over since then, why he didn't just ignore them. All it takes is a split second for your whole life to change. I was a Peace Officer in NY State for 25 years. Could have purchased weapons on my badge, but never did. I didn't like guns, but had to qualify each year in order to keep my Peace Officer status. My two sons were 17 and 13 at the time I took the job. Back in 1980, I'd only been a divorced mother for about a year. Because I couldn't be home 24 hours a day, I didn't want to take the chance of bringing a weapon into my home. My oldest son has always been level-headed. Never gave me a bit of trouble. It was my youngest son who I worried about. He never thought twice before doing anything stupid...like trying to do a Karate kick, having never taken a Karate lesson in his life, and ended up dislocating his knee, and breaking two bones in his leg. I told both of them when I took the job in NY State Corrections, that if either of them didn't anything to get themselves put in jail, not to expect me to come visit them. Fortunately, neither of them ever did.