NEW YORK — A federal judge on Thursday issued an injunction immediately stopping 10 gun dealers from selling or shipping gun parts and kits to New York — the types of materials that officials say can be used to craft untraceable ghosts, which can then be sold without background checks, ending up in the wrong hands.
Judge Jesse Furman’s order comes after State Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against the dealers in June in Manhattan State Supreme Court. The injunction temporarily stops arms dealers from shipping or selling unfinished frames or receivers, which often lack serial numbers, meaning they are unregistered and difficult to trace.
“Today’s injunction will help protect New York communities and save the lives of New Yorkers,” James, a Democrat, said in a statement. “Easy-to-build ghost guns and ghost gun kits have caused violence and devastation throughout our state.”
The lawsuit was filed under a state law that allows New York to designate gun makers a public nuisance. The lawsuit moved from state Supreme Court to 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 effort 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 had no comment on the court order.
Phone and email messages left with attorneys representing the other companies named in the lawsuit, including self-proclaimed GlockStore, the largest distributor of Glock parts, and Florida-based Indie Guns LLC, were not immediately returned. .