The New York State Attorney’s Office today filed a landmark lawsuit against ten US gun retail companies, accusing them of “stoking the gun violence crisis and endangering New Yorkers.”
The legal complaints are the first filed by officials under a new state law aimed at holding firearms manufacturers responsible for violence, noted The New York Times.
The lawsuit alleges that these companies “sold tens of thousands of illegal and unfinished frames and frames to New Yorkers, which were then turned into pistols without serial numbers and untraceable, as well as assault-style weapons” that are known as “ghost guns.”
Specifically, the lawsuit includes the companies Brownells, Blackhawk Manufacturing Group, Salvo Technologies (80 P Builder or 80P Freedom), GS Performance, Indie Guns, Primary Arms, Arm or Ally, Rainier Arms, KM Tactical and Rock Slide USA, listed the agency EFE.
“We are not going to allow companies to of guns turn New York into a city of murders by mail”
Mayor Eric Adams
According to State Attorney Letitia James, these distributors have violated several laws, including the New York State gun licensing law, by selling products to criminals and others without checking their backgrounds.
“There should be no more immunity for gun dealers who cause damage and havoc in New York. Today’s lawsuit holds 10 responsible for fueling the crisis of gun violence and endangering the new yorkers. Illegal weapons do not belong on our streets or in our communities and we will use all the necessary tools to eradicate them”, said James at a press conference, accompanied by the mayor of New York, Eric Adams.
Adams also announced the filing of a lawsuit at the federal level against five of those companies that sell guns online: Arm or Ally, 29P Builder, Rockslide USA, Rainier Arms and Indie Guns. “We are not going to allow arms companies to turn New York into a murder-by-mail city,” said the mayor, referring to sending weapons parts via post.
This was done “in violation of the laws of the State of New York and the City of New York that make such sales illegal. These weapon components are easily assembled into deadly illegal and untraceable weapons,” the complaint states.
This lawsuit comes a week after the US Supreme Court struck down a law of the state of New York that prohibited carrying weapons in public, which James described at the time as “incredibly disappointing”.
New York has been trying for months to stop the rampant increase in crimes with firearms, which began to rise since the coronavirus pandemic in 550. In recent years, the wave of armed violence in NYC has involved minor and adult gunmen, men and women, and victims of all ages.
After the boom in 2020 and 2021 particularly among young gang members and/or victims, the 2022 continues the same trend, putting a big challenge on the new mayor Adams, who since taking office in January has encountered obstacles within his own Democratic party and “Black Lives Matter” leaders. (BLM) to face the crisis.