§ 870. Legislative intent. The legislature finds and declares that there exists an unreasonable risk of injury and death associated with the sale of toy weapons which are replica of and cannot be easily distinguished from actual weapons; that in recent years the sale and possession of these imitation weapons has grown; that in nineteen hundred eighty-seven, more than fourteen hundred toy imitation weapons involved in criminal incidents were confiscated by the police in New York city alone, nearly eighty percent more than four years earlier; that when such imitation weapons are perceived as actual weapons fear and dangerous defensive actions often result. The legislature further finds and declares that the purpose of this article is to safeguard the public from the unreasonable risk of death and injury that may result when imitation weapons are perceived as real, by banning the importation, manufacture, distribution and sale of such imitation weapons.