The maker of a gun part used in a mass shooting in 2022 agreed to pay $1.75 million to settle lawsuits that said the design of the accessory made it easier for a gunman to kill 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket.
The settlement, announced by the New York attorney general’s office and lawyers for victims’ families on Wednesday, is one of the biggest in lawsuits against gun manufacturers and part makers, which typically follow mass shootings.
The company, Mean Arms, based in Georgia, markets the device, called an MA lock, as locking a magazine — the part that holds ammunition — onto a firearm. It should have made it harder for the gunman, Peyton Gendron, to use detachable magazines on his AR-15, which are illegal in New York because they allow quick reloading.
But Mr. Gendron, a white supremacist intent on killing as many Black people as possible, was able to remove the lock quickly, with little effort, according to the suit.
In its suit, filed in 2023, the attorney general’s office said the company not only knew the piece was removable; it even provided step-by-step instructions for removing it on the back of its product packaging
The company agreed to permanently stop selling the lock in New York. Mean Arms will also remove any statements that claim it is legal to sell or resell the lock in New York, according to a news release from the attorney general’s office.
In January 2022, Mr. Gendron posted in his diary that he was able to remove the lock on his weapon quickly and with little effort.
On May 14, Mr. Gendron, then 18, drove about 200 miles to Buffalo’s East Side from his home in Conklin, N.Y. He had visited Tops Friendly Market in that part of the city at least twice before and had written about his plans for the attack — in an area he said in online writings he had chosen it for its large Black population.
On the day of the massacre, he wore camouflage and body armor. He fired at least 60 rounds and used 30-round detachable magazines. He streamed the murders live.
Using the higher-capacity magazines allowed him to avoid reloading his gun and may have helped Mr. Gendron kill more people.
Along with the 10 he murdered, three others were injured in his attack. The mass shooting left the residents of the city, especially those in the predominantly Black neighborhoods, reeling.
Mr. Gendron pleaded guilty to state charges, including murder, in November 2022. In 2024, the Biden administration announced that federal prosecutors would seek the death penalty against Mr. Gendron. He is awaiting the beginning of that trial.
In 2022, Sandy Hook school shooting victims settled a lawsuit for $73 million against Remington, the maker of the AR-15-style rifle used in the massacre.
Los Angeles and Philadelphia have settled suits against Polymer80, a leader in manufacturing ghost gun kits and components, for $5 million and $1.3 million.
Hurubie Meko is a Times reporter covering criminal justice in New York, with a focus on the Manhattan district attorney’s office and state courts.
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