(The Center Square) — A Georgia-based gunmaker has agreed to stop selling a high-capacity magazine accessory used in the 2022 Buffalo mass shooting after settling a lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Under the settlement, announced Wednesday, Mean Arms, also known as Mean LLC., has also agreed to pay $1.75 million to the families of the victims, survivors and those who were injured in the “racist” mass shooting at Tops supermarket in Buffalo, according to James’ office.
“The racist mass shooting at Tops in Buffalo was an unbearable tragedy,” James, a Democrat, said in a statement. “We lost 10 beautiful lives in a horrific act of violence and hate, and no amount of money can ever return those individuals to their families or erase the devastation the community was forced to endure.”
In a 2023 lawsuit, filed in New York Supreme Court, James argues that the device Payton Gendron used to modify his AR-15 rifle in the Buffalo grocery store massacre turned it into “an even deadlier” weapon.
James alleged the company “falsely” advertised that the so-called MA Lock device makes the weapon legal in New York but included instructions on how to remove the lock. The lawsuit notes the lock can “easily be removed” so that high-capacity magazines — illegal in New York — can be inserted into an AR-15 rifle.
“That’s exactly what the shooter did,” James told reporters Wednesday. “He brought an AR-15 style with the M.A. lock, easily removed it and added 30 round detachable magazines. “With a pistol grip and the high-capacity magazines, he did not have to stop to reload his weapon, and when he did reload, he could do so quickly. As a result, he was able to kill 10 people and injure three others.”
The lawsuit was part of broader efforts by James to crack down on firearm violence and enforce New York’s gun laws following the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in the N.Y. State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen case, which struck down a New York law requiring applicants to show “proper cause” to get a permit to carry a firearm.
The court’s conservative majority affirmed the constitutional right to carry firearms in public places for self-defense, which has prompted reviews of firearm licensing laws in New York and other states that heavily restrict gun ownership.
But the ruling prompted New York and other Democrat-led states to tighten their gun laws to restrict further firearm carrying, which spurred other legal challenges from Second Amendment groups. New York is facing several lawsuits over its gun control laws, the outcomes of which are still pending.
Gun control advocates praised James’ court victory, which they say will hold gun manufacturers accountable for mass shootings carried out with their products.
“Nothing will ever bring back those who were murdered at Tops, Leigh Rome, senior litigation attorney at the GIFFORDS Law Center. “These efforts can stop future acts of violence before they happen, so that no more families have to endure what our clients have been put through over the past four years.”
