New York officials on Wednesday filed two lawsuits aimed at stemming the proliferation of inaccessible weapons known as ghost guns. a new state law to hold the gun industry accountable for the shootings.
The lawsuits, one by the state attorney general’s office, Letitia James, and the other by New York City, allege 10 out-of-state companies illegally sold tens of thousands of gun parts over the past five years to buyers. in New York, who used them to assemble pistols and assault-style weapons. Through sales, those companies recklessly ignited a statewide gun violence crisis.
Along with monetary damages and compensation, lawsuits, modeled on litigation against the pharmaceutical industry about the opioid crisis, seeking to force companies to channel profits from ghost gun sales to fund New York gun violence prevention.
“We are grappling with a public safety crisis that has taken the lives of too many people,” Ms. James said at a news conference Wednesday in Manhattan. “Increasingly, ghost guns are being blamed for the destruction.”
The lawsuits, brought for the first time by government officials under a public nuisance law passed last year, open a new chapter in a Democratic-led effort to crack down on manufacturing companies. gun exports amid rising gun violence, despite objections from industry and Republican allies.
They were filed six days after the Supreme Court’s conservative majority repeal a law of New York requires gun owners to demonstrate a special need for carrying a gun in public, a decision that gun safety advocates predict will lead to more violence.
The court’s decision comes as New York is facing a sharp increase in gun violence during the pandemic, which this year was punctuated by a number of mass shootings. Officials say ghost guns have been used in at least two deadly shootings in New York City, including one in April. remaining Angellyh Yambo, 16 years old, dead and two other teenagers were injured walking home from school in the Bronx.
“We will not be on the side of illegal operators who circumvent the law, endanger our communities and kill our young people,” Mayor Eric Adams said at the news conference. “We will listen to our voices and use the court system to stop this plague on our city.”
Since 2005, a federal law has protected gun manufacturers from most lawsuits aimed at holding them accountable for shootings. But the law, the Lawful Trade Protection in Firearms Act, makes an exception for cases in which a seller knowingly violates regulations governing the sale or marketing of firearms.
The families of some of the victims of the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., have invoked an exception against Remington Arms, the manufacturer of the weapon used in the attack, reached settlement of 73 million dollars this early year.
New York lawmakers took advantage of the same exception to create an avenue for people affected by gun violence to sue manufacturers, distributors and retailers for damages. The law classifies improper and illegal gun sales as a public nuisance.
Three states – California, Delaware and New Jersey – are considering or have passed measures modeled on New York law.
In May, a federal judge reject a challenge from some members of the gun industry who argued that the law would be unfairly used to hold them accountable for the behavior of criminals who misused their weapons . Appeal is pending.
On a national level, however, the scale is still in favor of the gun industry. On Tuesday, Delaware became the first state to repeal a law modeled on the Lawful Trade in Firearms Protection Act, but similar measures are still on the books in 34 other states, according to Brady, a gun control group.
The attorney general’s lawsuit, filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, names 10 companies as defendants: Brownells, Blackhawk Manufacturing Group, Salvo Technologies, GS Performance, Indie Guns LLC, Primary Arms, Arm or Ally , Rainier Arms, KM Tactical and Rock Slide USA. It seeks a judicial order barring companies from sending gun parts to New York as well as compensating for damage caused.
The New York City Department of Law has sued five of these companies in federal court in Manhattan, where they are also seeking to force them to provide information about buyers.
Representatives for eight of the companies did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday. Indie Guns’ attorney, Christian W. Waugh, said the lawsuits appear to be “a politically motivated attempt to smear a small business that doesn’t violate federal, state or city law.”
Pete Brownell, president of Brownells, said that his company “always takes its compliance obligations seriously and we look forward to having these complaints resolved through the legal system.”
Last month, a woman was among 10 people shot in a subway car in Brooklyn earlier this year File a federal lawsuit under the new law. The woman, Ilene Steur, 49, is seeking unspecified monetary damages against the defendant, Glock Inc.
Heidi Li Feldman, a law professor at Georgetown University who studies the civil justice system, said it was “wise” to use public nuisance laws to track down ghost gun dealers first rather than first. traditional gun manufacturers. Professor Feldman says those claims are less likely to be contested because it is less difficult to prove that ghost gun sellers are following the laws that traditional gun manufacturers must follow.
“You are really targeting gun manufacturers whose products are not only unduly attractive to criminals but who are playing fast and loose with the age-old laws governing the sale of guns,” she said. .
Things to know about ‘Ghost Gun’
But she added that the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on gun rights makes it difficult to predict whether the law will ultimately withstand the challenges.
Ghost gun has been identified as fastest growing feeding public safety threat gun violence in New York and other states with strict gun laws. The weapons are sold as parts that can be easily assembled into drill-operated guns, lack serial numbers allowing the gun’s traceability to buyers, and are sold online and at gun shows without proper background checks.
Ghost gun sellers have argued that their products are not weapons that require serial numbers, permits and background checks because they are sold in parts and assembled in-house.
But critics note that the companies sell all the parts needed to build the weapons and provide video tutorials and live help to assist in assembling them.
An investigation by James’s office and city officials found that several of the companies named in the lawsuit sold gun parts to an undercover investigator who used household tools. normally to assemble them into a gun that can work within 90 minutes.
Another recipient of gun components in New York was a member of a far-right militia with a history of political violence, the attorney general’s office said. New York City police investigators recovered two completed firearms, 11 high-capacity magazines, four frames and receivers, and other gun-making tools from his residence.
Officials have said that weapons are appearing in the city at an alarming rate. The number of ghost guns recovered by police has increased from 17 in 2018 to 263 in 2021. This year, police have seized 180 of them – about 9% of the total number of guns recovered.
Some were found at crime scenes while others were confiscated from children at school. Search yes enable caching than 10 weapons at once.
The city’s lawsuit says its residents experienced a predictable outcome: “exponentially the number of untraceable ghost guns used in crimes in the city has grown exponentially. ,” usually by people who cannot legally obtain a conventional weapon.
