BUFFALO, N.Y. — The maker of a gun accessory linked to the racist shooting that claimed 10 Black lives at a Buffalo supermarket will pay $1.75 million to survivors and victims’ families and cease selling the device in New York, state Attorney General Letitia James announced Wednesday.
The agreement with Georgia-based Mean Arms settles a lawsuit filed by James and addresses claims from various victims’ families and survivors of the 2022 attack at Tops Friendly Market.
In addition to this settlement, separate agreements have been reached to resolve suits against the gunman Payton Gendron’s family and a gun seller, Vintage Firearms LLC, plaintiffs’ lawyers revealed the previous day.
The claims against Mean Arms focused on a device designed to lock a magazine onto a rifle. This lock is intended to prevent the use of high-capacity magazines, which are illegal in New York. However, according to Attorney General James, Gendron easily removed the lock from an AR-15-style rifle and was able to add high-capacity magazines. Shockingly, the company even provided step-by-step instructions on the back of its product packaging on how to remove the lock.
“We hope that by holding this manufacturer accountable and banning it from selling this device in New York state, we can offer the people of Buffalo some measure of comfort,” James, a Democrat, said at a news conference in Buffalo.
Attempts to reach Mean Arms and its attorney for comment were unsuccessful.
Some victims’ relatives joined Attorney General James at the announcement and expressed that the settlement marks an important step forward.
“No one should be able to come into a store and, in two minutes, inflict so much damage to a community, to a family, to children,” said Pamela Pritchett, whose mother, Pearl Young, was killed in the attack. Young was a 77-year-old Sunday school teacher who also ran a food pantry in the community.
Everytown Law, which helped represent some of the survivors and victims’ relatives, stated that Vintage Firearms has permanently closed and its owner has agreed not to seek a federal firearms license in the future.
Eric Tirschwell of Everytown Law mentioned that the settlements reached with Gendron’s parents remain confidential. Attorneys representing the gunman’s parents and Vintage Firearms declined to comment.
Authorities say Gendron, who is white, targeted the Tops supermarket situated in a predominantly Black neighborhood.
The victims ranged in age from 32 to 86 and included a store guard, a man shopping for a birthday cake, a grandmother of nine, and the mother of a former Buffalo fire commissioner.
Gendron is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty in November 2022 to multiple state charges including murder.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/gun-accessory-company-pay-175-million-buffalo-supermarket-130082310