Gun-part maker agrees to pay families of mass shooting victims $1.75M

The maker of a gun part used in a deadly, racially motivated mass shooting has agreed to pay $1.75 million to survivors and victims’ families. New York Attorney General Letitia James announced the settlement, which also requires the company to stop selling the device.

The settlement resolves legal claims stemming from the May 2022 shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, that killed 10 people, all of them Black. Three others were wounded.

Payton Gendron, who is white, targeted Tops Friendly Market because of its location in a predominantly Black neighborhood. Gendron, then 18 years old, livestreamed the assault on Twitch.

The victims ranged in age from 32 to 86, including a security guard, a man shopping for a birthday cake and a grandmother of nine.

In November 2022, Gendron pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including murder. He’s now serving life in prison without the possibility of parole.

He also faces federal hate crime and weapons charges. He has pleaded not guilty, and his federal trial is expected to begin this year. The Department of Justice has said it will seek the death penalty in that case.

The lawsuit

According to a lawsuit filed by New York state, Georgia-based MEAN Arms marketed the part, called an MA lock, as a device that keeps users from swapping out a rifle’s magazine. In New York, where high capacity magazines are illegal, they’re used to make sure gun owners can’t trade their magazines for one that holds more ammunition.

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The MA lock was designed to make AR-15-style rifles compliant with New York’s SAFE Act.

However, James said Gendron was easily able to remove that lock from an AR-style rifle and add 30-round detachable magazines to fire rapidly. She also said the company knew it was removable, and that the device’s packaging offered step-by-step instructions on how to remove it.

Gendron fired at least 60 rounds inside the grocery store.

“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,” Pamela Pritchett said during a press conference announcing the settlement on Wednesday. Pritchett’s mother, Pearl Young, 77, was killed in the shooting.

In January 2022, months before the massacre, Gendron posted in his online diary that he was able to remove the lock on his weapon quickly and easily, according to The New York Times.

Not only will MEAN Arms pay the victims’ families $1.75 million, but it must also stop selling the device in New York, label its packaging to say it cannot be sold or resold in New York and notify all businesses selling the product that it is illegal to sell in New York.

“No amount of money can ease their pain,” James said, “but 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 in knowing that those responsible for such acts of hate and violence will not go unpunished in New York.”

Other settlements announced

Everytown Law, an arm of the nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety, represented some of the Buffalo shooting survivors and victims’ relatives. In a statement Wednesday, the organization said the store where Gendron bought his gun, Vintage Firearms, has permanently closed and its owner has agreed to refrain from obtaining a federal firearms license in the future.

Everytown Law also reached settlements with Gendron’s parents, but the details are confidential. The lawsuits alleged that Gendron’s parents “abdicated their duties” by failing to intervene despite knowing their son had mental health issues and that they did not take steps to limit his access to guns.