PEOPLE v. THOMAS

Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.

There is no merit to the defendant's contention that the court erred in failing to instruct the jury that possessing a weapon for the purpose of self-defense is not unlawful. Justification based on self-defense pertains only to the use of physical force and does not apply to a crime based on the possession of a weapon, even though an element of the crime is that the defendant possessed the weapon with the intent to use it unlawfully against another ( see, People v Pons, 68 NY2d 264; People v Almodovar, 62 NY2d 126).