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Nearly four years after the horrific May 14, 2022 massacre at a Tops Friendly Markets on Jefferson Avenue, a new legal chapter just closed. And it could have serious implications for the firearms industry.
New York Attorney General Letitia James announced partial settlements involving magazine-lock manufacturer MEAN LLC, gun dealer Vintage Firearms LLC, and the shooter’s parents. The coordinated resolution includes a $1.75 million payment from MEAN LLC to families and survivors.
As part of the agreement, the company will stop selling its MA Lock device in New York and remove marketing claims suggesting the product made rifles compliant with state law.
According to the Attorney General, the shooter purchased an AR-15-style rifle equipped with the MA Lock, removed it, and installed detachable 30-round magazines in violation of New York’s SAFE Act. Plaintiffs argued that the device was easily removable and that instructions for removal were publicly available.
Everytown Law, which represented several victims and survivors, framed the settlement as a warning shot to the broader gun industry. Executive Director Eric Tirschwell said the agreement should signal that “gun safety laws… are not inconveniences to be circumvented for profit.”
SEE ALSO: Shots Fired Outside Christian Church: What Do You Do?
Vintage Firearms has permanently closed. Its former owner agreed not to seek another federal firearms license. The settlement with the shooter’s parents includes financial compensation, though terms were not publicly disclosed.
Here’s where it gets complicated for the industry: A New York appellate court previously ruled that claims against MEAN LLC could proceed despite federal protections under the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA). That decision opened the door to this settlement and potentially others.
Notably, lawsuits remain pending against RMA Armament (body armor manufacturer) and social media companies including YouTube and Reddit. The New York Court of Appeals will soon consider whether those claims can move forward.
No amount of money changes what happened in Buffalo. But this settlement raises serious questions about how far liability can stretch when third-party criminal acts are involved and whether accessory makers and retailers now face a new legal frontier.
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is a seasoned outdoorsman, lifelong hunter, and the kind of guy who’d rather track whitetails than scroll social media. As an editor for GunsAmerica, he’s got a sharp eye for spotting both solid gear and bad gun laws. Whether he’s deep in the woods or deep in editorial deadlines, Larry brings a no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is approach to firearms, hunting, and the great American tradition of self-reliance. If there’s a hot debate on gun rights or the latest in hunting tech, you can bet Larry’s got an opinion—and it’s probably backed up with both facts and field experience.
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by the same logic, if a person is convicted of DUI and ordered to have an ignition interlock installed on his car, then disables the device, the device’s manufacturer is liable when he gets drunk and kills someone?
The gun was sold with a device limiting the size of magazine it could hold. The owner of the gun modified the design, the owner not the manufacturer should be held liable. The end user who modifies a product is liable, the manufacturer did not sell it in this configuration.
By this logic, if someone modified a car to go faster than designed and it got into an accident, now the manufacturer is at fault????
Black Panther leader and talking-head BLM Letita is at it again. They need to run that ignorant bitch out of town on rails, like most psycho ‘demoncrats’. 🙄
Hey, I’ve got a great idea! If we’re going to make the firearms industries financially responsible for the actions of its products user’s, then lets hold the auto industries accountable for their’s and all other industries as well!!! One more thing, let’s hold our Government officials financially accountable for their actions in office for the theft, corruption, fraud, and the laws and ordinances they pass!!!
The way some judges ignore laws, make up laws and overstep their authority angers me. If they can do it with impunity we should be able to do the same. They never suffer any punishment for their unlawful acts. Those in authority often thumb their noses at laws while punishing us if we do it.
You know, that’s a great idea! I cut myself the other day, I am going to sue the knife manufacturer for making such a sharp implement. Such nonsense. The shooter is to blame, period.
I contend that ALL such laws are unconstitutional and that states have no legal right to infringe on your right to keep and bear such arms as you want. They have no legal right to tell you how you can modify your firearms or arms of any sort. They need to butt out.
PUNISH THE CRIMINAL NOT THE PUBLIC AT LARGE.
Exactly. All the while they do whatever they want.
Where they got Mean Arms is that Mean Arms readily told people how to disable their lock. Now most mechanically able people should be able to disable the lock, but actively telling people how to do it was a little bit over the top. The FFL lost their license, so I believe they had to have also told the shooter how to disable it. Disagreeing with a law is one thing but telling people how to circumvent the law is quite another. I suspect that if you live in NY and own a MA lock, you may want to change it with another device as MA locks may become illegal in the near future (if it hasn’t happened yet).
The article said the info was online. It did NOT say Mean told anyone.
If the MA lock device was fraudulently marketed, is this why the PLCAA did not hold up? Or was the MA Lock device manufactured inmproperly of had defects that made it easy to remove is why the PLCAA did not hold hold up? I don’t think the PLCAA is meant to protect companies from fruadelent marketing or from selling defective products.
The law, no law, is passed only to be bypassed by judges who disagree with it. I think we are all sick of so-called Lawfair were those in authority ignore laws while reaming us with their false interpretation of them.
All I’m saying is that the law does not cover a company for negligence. Remember when Firestone manufactured those faulty tires on the Ford SUV. Firstone was held liable for a manufacturer’s defect that was known and tehy kept selling the tires. Though PLCAA did not exist then, it does not cover negilgent manufacturing or false advertising. As a whole I disagree with the NY AG and the companies should not be liable for the action of the shooter.
Note to firearms and accessories manufacturers:
DON’T SELL YOUR PRODUCTS IN BLUE STATES, and in tiny legalese, stamp every one with “This product not for sale, use, or possession in any state that voted for Biden or Harris”.
Change that to any person who voted for or supported democRats in any way.
we KNOW they won’t go after SCREWTUBE.
yup blame everybody but the bad guy, the commie democrat way. so what happened to the bad guy???
Payton Gendron was the shooter. He murdered 10 folks, all of whom were Black, and he injured 3 others. He was radicalized on 4chan. He’s a White supremacist and was inspired by the Christchurch NZ shooter. He’s serving several life sentences.
But sure pops, whatever you say. Is the ‘commie democratic way’ in the room with you now? Or are you just drunk in the morning again?
He should have been executed.
💯!
“is the commie democratic way in the room with you now?”……… since you’re a commie democrat you should
have known that the answer is no.
Oh honey.
sorry but i don’t do the gay thing, look elsewhere
Making murderers famous is a very bad policy. It must be stopped. When Comey did an interview about a mass murderer he refused to divulge any info about the shooter for that reason. I thought at the time he is a good FBI director. No one should be talking about these scum in effect making heroes of them to other scum like them.
If we execute such murderers in the electric chair and make a video of it with no blocking of the executee’s reactions and death and put it online and use a heading something like “murder or rape someone and this will happen to you”.
Make them an example.
i’m thinking make it painful and gruesome then put it on ppv with the proceeds going to the victim’s families. ppv would be good in that if you don’t want to see it then don’t pay and watch, this should take care of a lot of whining!