NEW YORK — Following her landmark lawsuit against gun distributors selling and bringing illegal ghost gun parts into New York, Attorney General Letitia James has now taken further action.
On Thursday, James announced she filed a motion for a preliminary injunction against six of the gun distributors that sold and shipped unfinished frames and receivers to undercover investigators in New York.
An investigation found the businesses sent thousands of unfinished frames to people in New York who later committed violent crimes.
“Every single day people across the country are losing their lives to gun violence,” James said. “We cannot and will not allow our children and our communities to continue to live in fear that their school, parade, or grocery store will be next. Today, we are taking serious action to immediately stop these companies from illegally selling and bringing these dangerous ghost gun parts into New York. We will continue to fight to protect New Yorkers and bring justice to communities devastated by gun violence.”
James is asking the court to order the distributors to immediately stop selling, shipping, distributing and supplying unfinished frames to any person or entity with a New York address.
An injunction says that the businesses sell the ghost gun parts with the intention that customers will convert them into guns. Some of the retailers have instructions on its websites that show consumers how to turn the parts into guns.
These businesses also sell a "jig," a plastic rig that guides tools through the process of completing the gun. A jig make it "ridiculously easy for a non-machinist to finish their [handgun frame] in under one hour with no drill press required,” according to of 80 Percent Arms.
The New York attorney general's lawsuit against 10 online gun sellers was filed under a state law that allows the state to target gun makers as public nuisances. The lawsuit seeks an order banning the companies from sending gun parts to the state and also seeks restitution for gun violence victims.