a. Legislative findings. The council hereby finds that the number of school safety incidents which take place in the city's schools are disturbingly high and are rising, and that these incidents place students and staff at unacceptable risk of injury and disrupt the learning environment. Board of education statistics reveal that for the first half of the 1994-95 school year, 8,333 school safety incidents occurred, representing a 27.6 percent increase as compared with the same period in the prior year. Board of education statistics also reveal that for the entire 1994-95 school year, 19,814 school safety incidents were reported, representing an increase of 16 percent as compared to the prior school year. The council further finds that the board of education's school safety statistics reveal that over 2,000 box cutters and other similar implements were seized during the 1994-95 school year, indicating that these instruments have become the "weapon of choice" in the city's schools. These implements are used as weapons by students as they are relatively inexpensive, readily available, and easily deployable. Used as weapons, box cutters and similar instruments can cause great injury. It is the council's belief that banning the sale of box cutters to minors under eighteen year of age, requiring that those who sell box cutters ensure that they are not displayed in a manner that increases opportunities for minors to steal them, and banning the possession of box cutters by persons under twenty-two years of age on school premises, will significantly help in reducing the number of violent school safety incidents and in ensuring that schools are the safe havens of knowledge and education that children need and deserve.
b. Definitions. For purposes of this section:
(1) "Box cutter" means any knife consisting of a razor blade, retractable, nonretractable, or detachable in segments, attached to or contained within a plastic or metal housing, including utility knives, snap-off knives, and box cart cutters.
(2) "Person" means any natural person, corporation, partnership, firm, organization or other legal entity.
(3) "Public place" means a place to which the public or a substantial group of persons has access, and includes, but is not limited to, any street, highway, parking lot, plaza, transportation facility, school, place of amusement, park, playground, and any hallway, lobby and other portion of an apartment house or hotel not constituting a room or apartment designed for actual residence.
(4) "School premises" means the buildings, grounds, or facilities, or any portion thereof, owned, occupied by, or under the custody or control of public and private institutions for the primary purpose of providing educational instruction to students, and any vehicles owned, operated or leased by such institutions which are used to transport such students or the personnel of such institutions.
c. It shall be unlawful for any person to sell or offer to sell or cause any person to sell or offer to sell a box cutter to any individual under twenty-one years of age.
d. No person who sells or offers for sale box cutters shall place such box cutters on open display so that such implements are accessible to the public without the assistance of such seller, or his or her employee or other agent, offering such implement for sale; provided, however, that the restrictions of this subdivision shall not apply to those box cutters on open display (1) which are clearly and fully visible from a place of payment for goods or services or customer information at which such seller or an employee or other agent of such seller is usually present during hours when the public is invited or (2) which are in a package, box or other container provided by the manufacturer, importer or packager that is larger than 41 square inches.
e. It shall be unlawful for any person under twenty-two years of age to possess a box cutter on school premises, and unlawful for any person under twenty-one years of age to possess a box cutter while in a public place; provided, however, that nothing in this subdivision shall preclude:
(1) the temporary transfer on school premises of such an instrument to a person under twenty-two years of age for a valid instructional, or school-related purpose where such device is used only under the supervision of a school staff person or other authorized instructor; or
(2) the possession or use of such an instrument in a public place by any person under twenty-one years of age or on school premises by any person under twenty-two years of age so long as it occurs under circumstances in which such person is performing work on such premises during the course of his or her employment, and such instrument is used only under the supervision of his or her employer or such employer's agent or a school staff person.
f. When a person is found to possess a box cutter while in a public place in violation of subdivision e of this section, it is an affirmative defense that:
(1) such person is traveling to or from school premises, where it was or will be used for a valid instructional or school related purpose and used only under the supervision of a school staff member or other authorized instructor, and such person has not displayed the box cutter in a menacing or threatening manner, or in a manner that a reasonable person would believe manifests an intent to use such box cutter for a criminal purpose; or
(2) such person is traveling to or from his or her place of employment, where it was or will be used during the course of such employment and used only under the supervision of his or her employer or such employer's agent, and such person has not displayed the box cutter in a menacing or threatening manner, or in a manner that a reasonable person would believe manifests an intent to use such box cutter for a criminal purpose.
g. Any person who violates the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.