[Adopted 7-15-1957]
It shall be unlawful and an offense for any
person to sell, offer for sale, attempt to sell, display, give away,
keep in his possession with intent to sell or give away, or in any
way furnish or attempt to furnish to any person any illustrated comic
book, magazine or other publication which, read as a whole, is of
an obscene or depraved nature.
A.
It shall be unlawful and an offense for any person
to sell, offer for sale, attempt to sell, display, give away, or keep
in his possession with intent to utter, expose to view, advertise,
sell or give away, or in any way furnish or attempt to furnish to
any person, including any child under the age of 18 years, any comic
book, magazine or other publication which features nudity or seminudity
or which, read as a whole, is concerned with an account of crime or
horror and which depicts, by the use of drawings, photographs or illustrations,
any of the following offenses:
(1)
Administering poisonous and injurious potions.
(2)
Aggravated assault.
(3)
Arson and other willful burning.
(4)
Assault in attempting burglary.
(5)
Assault to maim or disfigure.
(6)
Assault with intent to commit rape.
(7)
Assault with intent to commit robbery.
(8)
Assault with intent to murder.
(9)
Burglary.
(10)
False imprisonment.
(11)
Kidnapping and abduction.
(12)
Maiming and disfiguring.
(13)
Malicious mischief.
(14)
Murder.
(15)
Rape.
(16)
Robbery.
(17)
Theft.
(18)
Conspiracy to commit any of the foregoing offenses.
B.
Intent where text is not prominently featured. It
is the intent of this article to include publications where the text
is not prominently featured but rather is incidental to the picture,
being usually in balloons that indicate the words spoken by the character.
C.
News accounts not included. This article shall not
be construed to apply to those accounts of crime which are part of
the ordinary and general dissemination of news, nor to such drawings
and photographs as are used to illustrate such accounts.
D.
Historical or literary publications not included.
This article shall not be construed to apply to legitimate, illustrated
historical accounts of crime or crimes.
E.
Classics. This article shall not be construed to apply
to those books and publications which are generally known as "classics"
or classic literature.
If any publication prohibited hereunder shall
be displayed in any newsstand, bookstore, drugstore, market or other
mercantile establishment where the prohibited publication may be seen
by any child under the age of 18 years visiting such establishment,
such display shall be prima facie evidence that the person in charge
of such establishment was then displaying the crime or horror comic
book or other prohibited publication and intended to sell, offer for
sale, furnish or attempt to furnish such prohibited publication to
a child or children under the age of 18 years in violation of this
article, but it shall be competent for the defendant in any such case
to show that no such intention existed.
[Amended 9-6-1977; 4-17-2006 by Ord. No. 06-06]
Any person violating or failing to comply with
any of the provisions of this article shall, upon conviction thereof,
be punishable by a fine of not more than $2,000 or by imprisonment
for a term not to exceed 90 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment,
in the discretion of the Judge. The continuation of such violation
on each successive day shall constitute a separate offense, and the
person or persons allowing or permitting the continuation of the violation
may be punished as provided above for each separate offense.
When not inconsistent with the context, words
used in the present tense include the future, words in the plural
number include the singular number, and words in the singular number
include the plural number. The word "shall" is always mandatory and
not merely directory. "Person" is any person, firm, partnership, association,
corporation, company or organization of any kind.
