BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown and a team of attorneys for the city announced on Tuesday that they have filed a lawsuit in state Supreme Court against gun manufacturers, distributors and other local gun shops.

The mayor says the first-of-its-kind lawsuit targets conduct that Brown claims is fueling a crisis of gun violence involving illegal firearms.

"Enabling gun use destroys lives and deeply affects our neighborhoods, especially in Black and brown communities," said Brown. "I am proud to stand up to the gun industry and fight for the safety of people living, working and visiting the city of Buffalo. The city is not going to let gun industry members continue to flood our city with illegally possessed guns."

The lawsuit is a courtroom approach to helping alleviate some of the pressure on officials out on the front lines.

“Gun violence is a substantial amount of drain on the resources of the police department,” said Buffalo Police Chief Joseph Gramaglia. “We have a number of detectives that are constantly, on a daily basis, working at solving gun violence. Solving shootings. Solving these types of crimes.”

Cited in the lawsuit is the Buffalo Police Department’s 18-month recovery numbers outlined by manufacturer, with some makers having hundreds of their pieces taken off the street for either being illegal or being involved in crimes.

“We believe that there are legal avenues on our side to put pressure on gun manufacturers and distributors as one of our strategies to make the streets of our city safer,” said Brown.

Officials are suing in part based on a 2021 state law that could find gun industry members at fault for contributing to unsafe conditions through sales. That recently survived an initial federal court challenge, potentially opening up Buffalo to recoup funds directly related to crimes over a span of years under the suit.

“It's a public nuisance,” said Salvatore Badala, lawyer, Napoli Shkolnik. “So we would seek abatement and all of the elements that are included in abatement but damages, specifically.”

For many in the community, this goes far beyond dollars and cents.

“This is something that I feel very passionate about,” said Cavette Chambers, Buffalo corporation counsel. “As a mother and as a grandmother that I want to see my grandchild grow up, I don't want him to have to be a victim.”

While gun violence is a growing, it’s not a new problem from Buffalo to the Big Apple and beyond.

“Something has to be done about the amount of guns that are flooding our streets,” said Gramaglia.

Mayor Brown clarified that the lawsuit does not take issue with legal gun owners.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says in 2020 more than 45,000 people died by gun violence in the United States. It was the leading cause of death for children and teens that year, surpassing even car crashes.