The city of Buffalo, New York, has filed a lawsuit in state court against firearms manufacturers and distributors, as well as ghost firearms companies, for their alleged fueling of violence.
Mayor Byron Brown announced the lawsuit on Dec. 20, which he said was the first of its kind. It was filed in state Supreme Court.
“Members of our community have suffered too much and for too long from gun violence. We must do everything we can to decrease gun violence. Enabling the possession of illegal guns destroys lives and deeply effects our neighborhoods, especially in Black and Brown communities. I am proud to stand up to the gun industry and fight for the safety of people living, working, and visiting the City of Buffalo,” said Brown in a statement.
The lawsuit lists defendants including Smith & Wesson Brands Inc., Beretta USA Corp., Bushmaster Firearms Industries Inc., Colt’s Manufacturing Co. LLC, and Glock Inc., as well as several ghost gun manufacturers including Polymer 80 and Arm or Ally.
Gun Makers Accused of Being a ‘Public Nuisance’
The complaint (pdf) claims that the conduct of gun manufacturers and distributors has created, contributed to, and maintained the “public nuisance” of unlawful possession, transportation, and disposition of firearms and their use in crimes.
This, the lawsuit claims, is being done through marketing that emphasizes the high capacity and ease of concealing their products, which plaintiffs say “appeals to prospective purchasers with criminal intent.”
It is also being done by the makers deliberately supplying more guns than needed in the legitimate market in order to induce sales, not training dealers to avoid straw sales and other illegal transactions, and failing to terminate contracts with distributors who sell to dealers with disproportionately high volumes of guns traced to crime scenes, the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit seeks compensatory damages and asks the court to direct the gun makers and distributors to “endow an abatement fund with sufficient capital to eliminate the public nuisance they are responsible for creating, exacerbating, and/or perpetuating.” It also seeks punitive damages.
Brown, in announcing the lawsuit on Tuesday, pointed to rising violence in Buffalo and across the country, noting that despite the city taking actions to curb such violence, officials are still seeing illegally possessed guns getting into the wrong hands.
Violence in Buffalo on the Rise
According to the mayor’s office, violence in Buffalo increased in 2020 and has continued to do so through 2021 and 2022.
During the initial year of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were 355 deaths or injuries from shootings in Buffalo, according to the mayor, with that figure rising in the first two months of 2021 by more than 140 percent compared to the same period a year prior. More recently, 10 people were killed and three were wounded in a mass shooting at the Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo.
Bushmaster said in a statement that it had not yet fully reviewed the lawsuit but that the claims made within it appeared to be “false.”
When Cane killed his brother Able with a rock.
God did not blame the rock; he blamed Able and punished Able, not the rock.
I.A.W. U.S. Census & FBI (Table 43a)
Black males make up about 7% of the U.S. population but every year commit ~56% of all the murders and ~64% of all robberies in the U.S… Every year in the U.S. there are ~6,000 African-Americans men, women and children killed and 92% of them were killed by fellow African-Americans.
But to address this in accordance with the woke Democrats would be racist.
“Black people make up 23% of New York’s population, but they commit 75% of all shootings.
Whites are 33% of the New York city’s population, but they commit fewer than 2% of all shootings.
“These disparities mean that 75% of the time that police in New York are called out after a shooting, they are being summoned into minority neighborhoods looking for minority suspects.”
Profiling?? “If a Dalmatian has been biting the children in the neighborhood, I think we’re going to look for a black and white dog.”
People are afraid to tell the truth about the black culture of violence and victimization. Statistics do not lie.
Because if they DO say the truth, they are instantly dog piled on, by the RACE BAITERS..
Yeah—like auto manufacturers fuel road rage.
HOWS about sue the GOVT, the DA’s the judges etc, WHO ARE THE ONES FUELING this, by their continually releasing KNOWN OFFENDERS!!!
Maybe the Buffalo City should sue car and truck makers since they fuel roadway deaths.
Don’t give them any ideas..
People driving a vehicle are the fault for others losing their lives not the vehicle. If you drive like your life depends on it, cause it does, there would be less deaths. Same goes for weapons, a weapon is only deadly in the hands of those that do not know how to safely handle the weapon or resort to using cause they are so weak about finding another solution.
You people are to Blame Armed Robbery and RAPE was Life and now a Slap on the Wrist and now is 5 years in prison for a Gun in Comision of a Felone Waht has happen most not kept in Jail like the Laws says three Stricks you out now a long list of Crimes no charges for it~!!