BUFFALO, N.Y. — The maker of a gun accessory tied to a racist shooting that killed 10 Black people at a supermarket in Buffalo will pay $1.75 million to survivors and victims' families and stop selling the device in New York, state Attorney General Letitia James said Wednesday.
The agreement with Georgia-based Mean Arms settles a lawsuit filed by James and covers claims from various victims' families and survivors of the 2022 attack at Tops Friendly Market. They also reached agreements to resolve their own separate suits against gunman Payton Gendron's family and a gun seller, Vintage Firearms LLC, the plaintiffs' lawyers announced Wednesday.
The claims against Mean Arms focused on an item that locks a magazine onto a rifle. The lock is supposed to keep people from swapping in high-capacity magazines, which are illegal in New York.
But according to James, Gendron easily removed the lock from an AR-15-style rifle and was able to add high-capacity magazines. She also said the company 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 the city.
Messages seeking comment were left for Mean Arms and its attorney.
Some victims' relatives joined James on Wednesday and said the settlement is a 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. Young was a 77-year-old Sunday school teacher who ran a food pantry.
