Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: Underage vendoring of aerosol spray paints

I do not know the answer to this question after research. What I did find is that Penal Code section 594.1 makes it unlawful (with limited exceptions) to furnish aerosol paint to minors.

Whether placing a minor is a position where he/she is acting as a sales clerk handling aerosol paint amounts to 'furnishing' the cans to the minor as meant by the Code is a debatable question, and I don't know the answer. My guess is that a defense lawyer arguing that it was not illegal furnishing would have the stronger argument than the district attorney arguing that a crime had been committed.

I would also guess that the DA would be very reluctant to prosecute unless the selling minor was obviously selling to graffiti artists. Just clerking in a paint store is not a high priority prosecution for a busy DA.

Nevertheless, please note that this is just an offhand opinion after a little research, and I could easily be wrong. I'll check later to see if any other attorneys have other views.