Opinion ID: 2625
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The City's Allegations

Text: The factual bases for the City's complaint are set forth in painstaking detail in NAACP v. Acusport, 271 F.Supp.2d 435 (E.D.N.Y.2003), and City of New York v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp., 315 F.Supp.2d 256 (E.D.N.Y.2004) (denying motion to dismiss). Accordingly, our factual summary is brief. The City seeks injunctive relief and abatement of the public nuisance that defendants cause, contribute to and maintain by their marketing and distribution practices. Amended Complaint ¶ 1. The City alleges that the Firearms Suppliers know that firearms distributed to legitimate retailers are diverted into illegal markets and that the Firearms Suppliers could, but do not, monitor, supervise or regulate the sale and distribution of their guns by their downstream distributors or dealer-customers; could, but do not, monitor, supervise or train distributors or dealers to avoid sales that feed the illegal secondary market; and make no effort to determine those distributors and dealers whose sales disproportionately supply the illegal secondary market. Amended Complaint ¶ 8. In spite of New York City's strict controls on gun possession, thousands of guns manufactured or distributed by defendants were used to commit crimes in the City of New York. This number includes only guns that were recovered in the course of a crime. The actual number of defendants' `crime guns' used in New York City over the last five years is vastly higher. Amended Complaint ¶ 62. According to the City, among the mechanisms that serve to facilitate the movement of legally distributed handguns into illegal markets are: (i) gun shows, at which non-licensed persons can sell to other private citizens; (ii) private sales from non-stocking or kitchen table sellers, who are not required to conduct background checks or to maintain records that Federal Firearms Licensees (FFL) are required to maintain; (iii) straw purchases, in which persons qualified to purchase handguns make purchases on behalf of those who are not so qualified; (iv) multiple sales, in which a purchaser buys more than one gun at the same time or during a limited period of time for the purpose of transferring the guns to unqualified purchasers; (v) intentional illegal trafficking by corrupt FFLs; (vi) thefts from FFLs with poor security, as well as false reports of theft by corrupt FFLs; and (v) oversupplying of markets where gun regulations are lax. The City seeks injunctive relief requiring the Firearms Suppliers to take assorted measures that would effectively inhibit the flow of firearms into illegal markets.