NY AG sues Mean Arms over Payton Gendron’s Buffalo massacre

A gun accessory manufacturer’s product helped Buffalo mass murderer Payton Gendron skirt New York’s assault weapons ban by enabling his purchase of an AR-15 with an easily removed lock, the state’s Attorney General Letitia James alleges in a lawsuit.

“The racist mass shooting at the Tops grocery store in Buffalo was one of the darkest days in the history of our state and our nation,” James said in a statement. “We lost 10 innocent lives because a hate-fueled individual was able to make an AR-15 even deadlier through a simple change at home.”

That “simple change” was printed on the package of an MA Lock device manufactured by the Georgia-based company Mean Arms, according to the AG.

“Mean Arms sells the MA Lock device knowing that it can be easily removed to make guns more dangerous, and even gives directions on how to take this action,” James said. “We cannot undo the devastating harm that was done, but this lawsuit against Mean Arms is part of our ongoing effort to pursue justice for the ten innocent lives that were unjustly taken.”

On May 14, 2022, Gendron was 18 years old when he brought a Bushmaster XM rifle into Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo and opened fire, livestreaming the massacre on his GoPro camera. He disseminated a racist screed before the attack, seeking to inspire others to kill for his hateful ideology. He later pleaded guilty to all charges in a case featuring the first charges of New York’s Domestic Terrorism Law.

“The Buffalo shooter intended to use a weapon that could hold many rounds of ammunition and could also be reloaded quickly with detachable magazines,” the lawsuit notes. “He chillingly observed there are very few weapons that are easier to use and more effective at killing than the Bushmaster XM-15 he planned to use.”