Buffalo Mass Shooting Survivors Sue Social Media and Firearms Companies

Sixteen survivors of a 2022 mass shooting at a Buffalo supermarket filed a lawsuit Tuesday in New York’s Erie County Supreme Court against social media companies, the manufacturers of the shooter’s weapons and body armor and the shooter’s parents.

The 22-count lawsuit alleges that Mean LLC, Vintage Firearms, RMA Armament, Alphabet and its subsidiaries Google and YouTube, Reddit and the parents of the shooter Paul and Pamela Gendron failed to act and prevent the mass shooting from occurring.

Eric Tirschwell, executive director for Everytown Law, the legal arm for nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety, said the case involves the intersection of racism, racial hatred and gun violence empowered by the "reckless practices by members of the gun industry."