People v. Richards

*799OPINION OF THE COURT

Robert M. Mandelbaum, J.

Does defendant’s explanation that he was carrying a knife for protection immunize him from a charge of possession of a weapon with intent to use unlawfully?

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Penal Law article 265 reflects a legislative determination that public safety is best preserved when the state’s citizens are forbidden from roaming the streets equipped with tools of violence. Thus, the weapons statutes proscribe two broad categories of implements whose possession is made criminal. First are those items, such as firearms, gravity knives, switchblades and blackjacks, whose very…