The city of Buffalo has had enough of gun violence.
On Tuesday, city officials from Buffalo, N.Y., filed a lawsuit against numerous gun manufacturers and distributors, claiming the widespread availability of firearms “is a significant threat to public health and safety.”
The lawsuit, the first of its kind in the U.S., was spurred by the racially motivated May 14 shooting deaths of 10 Black people in a Buffalo grocery store.
There are currently 32 companies named in the lawsuit, which was filed in the Erie County branch of New York’s Supreme Court. The companies include gunmakers Smith & Wesson, Glock, Remington and Beretta, and several “ghost gun” companies, including Arm or Ally and Polymer80. (A ghost gun is a firearm that is privately assembled and untraceable.)
The lawsuit does not seek to end legal gun ownership.
Buffalo officials allege via the legal filing that thousands of guns have been recovered from crimes committed in the city and state overall, where the rate of gun violence has been on the rise.
“Members of our community have suffered too much and for too long from gun violence,” Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown said during a news conference on Tuesday. “We must do everything we can to decrease gun violence. Enabling the possession of illegal guns destroys lives and deeply affects our neighbourhoods, especially in Black and brown communities.”
City officials shared police data during the news conference and claimed 355 people were killed or injured in shootings in Buffalo in 2020. In the first three months of 2021, the number of shooting victims jumped 140 per cent compared with the previous year, police reported.
According to local news station WIVB, between 800 and 950 guns are taken off the street annually in Buffalo.
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The City of Buffalo is asking for an unspecified amount of compensatory and punitive damages from the named gunmakers and distributors. The lawsuit claims the city wants payment from the defendants to establish an “abatement fund with sufficient capital to eliminate the public nuisance they are responsible for creating, exacerbating, and/or perpetuating.”
So far, only the gun manufacturer Bushmaster has responded to the lawsuit.
“We have not had a chance to review the allegations in full at this time, but upon first blush, the verified allegations against Bushmaster Firearms Industries, Inc. are false,” Bushmaster’s statement read. “Our counsel is currently reviewing the complaint and evaluating a path forward to address both this lawsuit and the potentially libelous claims made against Bushmaster Firearms Industries, Inc.”
The National Rifle Association (NRA) has yet to make a public comment about the lawsuit.
Buffalo officials claimed in the lawsuit that the listed companies have oversaturated the existing, legal gun market in the U.S. and have therefore enabled a secondary, underground gun trade.
The lawsuit also claims the marketing techniques used by manufacturers focus too heavily on features like a gun’s high capacity and ease of concealment, which “appeals to prospective purchasers with criminal intent.”
“We have state public nuisance laws that we are empowered to enforce, and I intend on doing all that I can as mayor to protect people and prevent the loss of lives resulting from gun violence,” Brown said during Tuesday’s press conference. “The conduct of certain gun manufacturers has unreasonably interfered with the public’s right to use open space free from fear.”
In May, an 18-year-old gunman in Buffalo opened fire in a Tops Friendly Market located in a predominantly Black neighbourhood. Ten people were killed and three were injured.
In November, the shooter pleaded guilty to one count of domestic terrorism motivated by hate, 10 counts of first-degree murder, three counts of attempted murder and a weapons possession charge.
CNN reported the gunman used a Bushmaster XM-15 during the shooting. The gun was purchased legally but was adapted to fit a high-capacity ammunition magazine, which is illegal in New York.
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