ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A federal judge issued a court order Thursday that immediately halts 10 gun distributors from selling or shipping gun parts and kits to New York — the types of materials officials say can be used to build untraceable ghost guns, which can then be sold without background checks, eventually ending up in the wrong hands.
The order from Judge Jesse Furman comes after state Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against the distributors in June in a state Supreme court in Manhattan. The court order temporarily blocks the gun sellers from shipping or selling unfinished frames or receivers, which oftentimes do not have serial numbers, meaning they aren’t registered and hard to trace.
“Today’s court order will help protect New York communities and save New Yorkers’ lives,” James, a Democrat, said in a statement. “Ghost guns and easy-to-assemble ghost gun kits have caused violence and devastation throughout our state.”
The lawsuit was filed under a state law that allows New York to target gun makers as public nuisances. The suit switched from the state Supreme Court to a federal court in Manhattan in July, according to James’ office.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, also a Democrat, filed a separate federal lawsuit against five of the companies in an attempt to stop them from selling to customers in the city.
Brian Barnes, an attorney for four companies named in the New York attorney general’s lawsuit, said he has no comment on the court order.
Email and phone messages left for attorneys representing the other companies named in the lawsuit, including GlockStore, self-proclaimed as the largest distributor of Glock parts, and Florida-based Indie Guns LLC, were not immediately returned.
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Maysoon Khan is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Maysoon Khan on Twitter.
