Nearly four years after 10 Black Americans were murdered in a racially motivated mass shooting at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York, the victims’ families have reached a $1.75 million settlement with a firearms accessory manufacturer named in a civil lawsuit.
New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that Georgia-based Mean Arms agreed to pay the settlement and permanently stop selling its MA Lock device in New York. The lawsuit alleged that the company provided online instructions showing how to remove the locking device from an AR-15-style rifle. According to court filings, the shooter followed those instructions to detach the MA Lock from his Bushmaster XM-15, allowing the rifle to accept a 30-round magazine. New York law bans high-capacity magazines over 10 rounds.
Mean Arms settled without admitting or denying wrongdoing. As part of the agreement, the company will no longer market the device as legal in New York and must clearly state it cannot be sold or resold in the state.
The gunman, Payton Gendron, pleaded guilty in 2022 to state charges including domestic terrorism motivated by hate and murder. He is serving life in prison without parole. He faces a separate federal trial this summer, where prosecutors are pursuing the death penalty.
That’s the legal update.
Here’s what that story means to me.
I don’t know what that kid’s life is going to be like in prison after killing 10 black folks out of pure hatred. I would bet that turning his back for the next, say 70 years is probably out for him. I would guess that he has a bullseye on his back that’s as big as the sign in the front of a Target store… at least I hope that for him.
I hope he never gets a day of rest. I hope that hate burns him up from inside.
I joined the military at 19 and haven’t really spent much time at home for the last 40 years, but I’m from Conklin.
I grew up going between my mom’s house on Binghamton’s South Side to my Dad’s in Conklin.
I went to the same high school as this kid. I mowed the same yards, rode my bike on the same roads, and walked through the same woods as him.
I came out if that area with a great deal of respect for everyone, their heritage, their background, and who they were as people.
Already have an account? Sign In
Two ways to continue to read this article.
Subscribe
$1.99
every 4 weeks
- Unlimited access to all articles
- Support independent journalism
- Ad-free reading experience
Subscribe Now
Recurring Monthly. Cancel Anytime.
If anything, growing up in that small town made me embrace other cultures. I was a fan of Latin Pop long before Bad Bunny was a blip on the scene of controversy.
How did things slide so sideways? How did this kid, who grew up listening to cicadas in the fields, end up with this kind of hate?
It literally blows my mind… and is depressing to think about.
When I say that my heart goes out to all the folks who have been victimized by this guy, I am talking about the families of those folks in Buffalo, but I’m also talking about the rest of us.
The entire country took a hit that day.
I am a veteran, I am pro 2A, I am a gun owner, and I am a moderate conservative white guy from po-dunk upstate NY. I was deeply affected, deeply saddened… and remain so, by this kid’s actions.
The settlement closes one civil chapter. It does not close this wound.
There is accountability in the courtroom. There is punishment in prison.
But the deeper damage sits in a question that still hangs over a small town in upstate New York.
What turns a kid from Conklin into a man who commits an act of racist terror?
That question does not have a million dollar answer.
COMMENTS