Preview
FILED: BRONX COUNTY CLERK 03/26/2024 05:07 PM INDEX NO. 804999/2024E
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 1 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/26/2024
SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
COUNTY OF BRONX
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YANELY M. HENRIQUEZ, Individually and as Administrator of Index No.:
the Estate of ANGELLYH M. YAMBO a/k/a ANGELLYH M.
YAMBO HENRIQUEZ, SUMMONS
Plaintiff, Plaintiff designates Bronx
-against- County as the place of trial.
POLYMER80, INC., and JEREMIAH RYAN, Plaintiff’s basis for venue is:
Plaintiff’s residence within
Defendants. Bronx County.
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TO THE ABOVE-NAMED DEFENDANTS:
YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to answer the Verified Complaint of the Plaintiff
in this action, which is served herewith upon you, and to Answer upon the undersigned attorneys
for the Plaintiff, within twenty (20) days after the service of the Summons and Complaint,
exclusive of the day of service, or within thirty (30) days if such service is made by any method
other than personal delivery upon you and in case of your failure to appear or answer, judgment
will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the Complaint.
Dated: New York, New York
March 26, 2024
Yours,.
LEAV & STEINBERG, LLP
Attorneys for Plaintiff
YANELY M. HENRIQUEZ,
Individually and as Administrator of the
Estate of ANGELLYH M. YAMBO
75 Broad Street, Suite 1601
New York, New York 10004
(212) 766-5222
abeneduce@LSTrialLaw.com
TO: POLYMER80, INC.
134 Lakes Boulevard
Dayton, NV 89403
JEREMIAH RYAN
To be served pursuant to New York Correction Law §620 and CPLR §308
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SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
COUNTY OF BRONX
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YANELY M. HENRIQUEZ, Individually and as Administrator of
the Estate of ANGELLYH M. YAMBO a/k/a ANGELLYH M.
YAMBO HENRIQUEZ,
Index No.:
Plaintiff,
-against- JURY TRIAL
DEMANDED
POLYMER80, INC., and JEREMIAH RYAN,
Defendants.
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VERIFIED COMPLAINT
LEAV & STEINBERG, LLP
Anthony M. Beneduce, Esq.
Edward A. Steinberg, Esq.
75 Broad Street, Suite 1601
New York, NY 01
Phone: (212) 766-5222
abeneduce@LSTrialLaw.com
eas@LSTrialLaw.com
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INTRODUCTION
"I am preparing for one of the hardest days of my life tomorrow," Yanely Henriquez said.
"We need a change. You know, we should not be burying our kids. Mothers should not be
going through this."1
1. At 1:45 p.m. on April 8, 2022, 16-year-old Angellyh Marie Yambo left her high
school and stopped at a local Bronx bodega for a snack. Tragically, as she returned to the
sidewalk, a bullet from then 17-year-old Defendant JEREMIAH RYAN’s (“RYAN”) ghost gun
ended her life. This innocent teenager, full of dreams and potential, was suddenly gone.
2. The wrongful death of Angellyh M. Yambo on April 8, 2022, did not occur in
isolation. It was the result of a series of unlawful and irresponsible actions of a bad actor within
the gun industry. Driven by greed, Defendant POLYMER80, INC. (“POLYMER80”), recklessly
and knowingly violated Federal and State laws, and equipped the Shooter with a ghost gun – a
firearm he could not have otherwise accessed – to commit the shooting.
3. This lawsuit is one Bronx family’s cry out for justice and for a future where the
Bronx streets are safe for all, especially the innocent and the young. This is not just a story of
loss; it is a call to action to protect innocent lives from a gun industry member that knowingly
and recklessly breaks the law and endangers the safety of New Yorkers for profit.
4. Just as the Defendant RYAN has been held to account criminally for his actions2,
Defendant POLYMER80 must answer for the critical role it played in facilitating the wrongful
death of a 16-year-old Bronxite Angellyh’s Marie Yambo.
1
17-year-old to be charged as adult in killing of teenage girl in Bronx, ABC 7 NY News (April 11, 2022), available
at https://abc7ny.com/bronx-teen-shot-angellyh-yambo-jeremiah-ryan-shooting-suspect-identified/11736276/,
(captured March 13, 2024).
2
Bronx District Attorney’s Office Press Release (September 15, 2023), available at
https://www.bronxda.nyc.gov/downloads/pdf/pr/2023/59-2023-jermiah-ryan-sentenced-yambo-shooting.pdf,
(captured March 13, 2024).
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PARTIES
A. Plaintiff, Yanely M. Henriquez, Individually and as Administrator of the Estate of
Angellyh Marie Yambo a/k/a Angellyh Marie Yambo Henriquez
5. Plaintiff Yanely M. Henriquez (“Plaintiff” or “Ms. Henriquez”), is the mother and
natural guardian of Angellyh Marie Yambo a/k/a Angellyh Marie Yambo Henriquez, deceased,
and Administrator of the Estate of Angelyyh Marie Yambo a/k/a Angellyh Marie Yambo
Henriquez.3 Ms. Henriquez is a resident of Bronx County, New York, as was Angellyh prior to
her death.
6. Shortly before her death, Angellyh had celebrated her Sweet Sixteen. Her dreams
of one day attending medical school and becoming a doctor were cut short due to the
Defendants’ unlawful acts.
3
See annexed hereto as Exhibit A, Letters of Administration Appointing Yanely M. Henriquez as Administrator of
the Estate Angellyh Marie Yambo a/k/a Angellyh Marie Yambo Henriquez issued by the Hon. Elizabeth A. Taylor,
JSC, Acting Surrogate of Bronx County Surrogates Court.
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7. On the afternoon of the shooting, while leaving a bodega at East 156th Street and
St. Ann’s Avenue in the Bronx, New York, heading home from school, Angellyh was struck by
bullets discharged from RYAN’s POLYMER80 ghost gun. She later died from her bullet
wounds.
8. Ms. Henriquez waited anxiously for her daughter to arrive home from school that
day, only to learn that Angellyh had been killed.
9. Two other innocent teenagers were shot and seriously injured by the Defendant
RYAN’s POLYMER80 ghost gun.
B. Defendant POLYMER80, Inc.
10. Upon information and belief, Defendant POLYMER80, a Nevada corporation
based in Dayton, Nevada, both shipped directly to consumers in and coordinated with third-party
dealers to do business in the City and State of New York. Additionally, at all relevant times,
Defendant POLYMER80 was a federally licensed firearm manufacturer and dealer.
11. Upon information and belief, Defendant POLYMER80, equipped Defendant
RYAN with the subject ghost gun he used to shoot and kill Angellyh.
12. POLYMER80 offers build yourself at home pistol kits and pistol frame and/or
component kits through its website and dealer network for assembling untraceable firearms,
including Glock-style handguns, known as "ghost guns" for their lack of serial numbers, making
them nearly impossible for law enforcement to trace.
13. POLYMER80 intentionally structured their business to circumvent firearm laws
by designing, manufacturing, and selling ghost gun kits that can readily be assembled into
functional firearms, without background checks.
14. POLYMER80, at all times relevant, falsely marketed and advertised its ghost gun
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kits as devices that make firearms comply with New York law. This misleading promotion
enabled Defendant RYAN to obtain an umarked, unserialized, untraceable ghost gun, a firearm
otherwise inaccessible to him because of his age, which he then used to shoot three teenagers,
fatally injuring one. Despite claims of compliance with New York law, POLYMER80
knowingly created the mere illusion of compliance and offered New Yorkers a way to
circumvent the law. Revealing its true intentions, the company publicly acknowledged that its
POLYMER80 ghost gun kits was a workaround developed in response to the “trampling” of the
rights of U.S. citizens to bear arms in “non-free states” that have restrictive gun laws, such as
New York.
15. POLYMER80, at all relevant times targeted New York customers, including
minors, such as Defendant RYAN, with its products claiming they could circumvent state
firearm laws. POLYMER80 marketed and sold its products, including PF940C 80% pistol frame
kits, to customers in New York, through its website and third-party sellers. Its marketing
materials were aimed at New York customers, including minors, like Defendant RYAN, in this
case, among others.
16. Upon information and belief, POLYMER80, through its website and third-party
sellers, regularly shipped ghost gun kits to purchasers in New York.
17. POLYMER80 purposefully availed itself of New York law by manufacturing,
marketing, and selling products, including the ghost gun kits, that are (or were at all relevant
times) sold in the City and State of New York.
18. Upon information and belief, the New York City Police Department seized a
9mm black/brown pistol made up of a PF940C Polymer80, Inc. frame from Defendant RYAN as
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he attempted to discard the subject ghost gun during his arrest.4
19. Plaintiff’s injuries arise out of Defendant POLYMER80’s purposeful availment of
New York law and its targeting of customers located in New York.
C. Defendant JEREMIAH RYAN
20. At all relevant times, Defendant RYAN was a resident of Bronx County, New
York.
21. Defendant RYAN admitted guilt to second-degree murder of Angellyh Marie
Yambo on August 4, 2023, and was sentenced by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey
Rosenblueth to 15 years to life in prison on September 15, 2023. 5
4
Response to Plaintiff’s Subpoena Duces Tecum to the Office of the Bronx District Attorney’s Office for file of
indictment number 71595/2022.
5
Bronx District Attorney’s Office Press Release (September 15, 2023), available at
https://www.bronxda.nyc.gov/downloads/pdf/pr/2023/59-2023-jermiah-ryan-sentenced-yambo-shooting.pdf,
(captured March 13, 2024)
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JURISDICTION AND VENUE
22. Jurisdiction is proper under CPLR §§ 301 and 302. Defendant POLYMER80
conducts business in the State of New York and/or has purposefully availed itself of the
jurisdiction of this Court by transacting business in this State.
23. Upon information and belief POLYMER80, conducted business in New York,
and/or profited from their activities directed toward the State of New York.
24. Upon information and belief, the events giving rise to this Complaint, including
Defendant POLYMER80’s marketing and sale of the firearm through Defendant POLYMER80’s
online website, and/or Defendant POLYMER’s third-party seller, and/or a third-party purchase
and transfer of possession of the firearm to Defendant RYAN, and the shooting on April 8, 2022,
occurred in the Bronx, City and State of New York. The combination of events and actions by
Defendant POLYMER80 and Defendant RYAN give rise to Plaintiff’s claims.
25. The non-domiciliary Defendant POLYMER80 transacted business within the
state, committed tortious acts within the state, and/or committed tortious acts outside of the state
that foreseeably resulted in injury to Angellyh Marie Yambo and Plaintiff Henriquez. This
Defendant persistently targeted the New York consumer market with knowledge that their
products would likely be misused in New York and/or engaged in another persistent course of
conduct directed at New York. This Defendant should reasonably have expected their conduct to
have consequences in New York.
26. Venue is proper in Bronx County pursuant to CPLR § 503(a) and (b) because it is
the county where a substantial part of the events—specifically the shooting —occurred. It is also
the county where Plaintiff Henriquez resides, as did Angellyh, and Defendant RYAN.
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GENERAL ALLEGATIONS
A. Ghost guns have created a public safety emergency.
27. Pursuant to federal law, a firearm made by a federally licensed manufacturer must
be engraved with identifying information, including the applicable make and model as well as a
unique serial number.6 A “ghost gun,” as the term is used throughout this complaint, is a term
commonly used by law enforcement and others to refer to a firearm that (a) started off as an
unfinished lower receiver or frame purchased in a kit or separately along with other necessary
parts, and (b) was assembled by the purchaser into a completed and functional firearm that has
no serial number. Because these ghost guns are manufactured and assembled into operable form
only upon receipt, their components are acquired without a background check, and once
assembled, these weapons lack the identifying information critical to law enforcement.7
28. Ghost guns are deliberately sold without the federally-mandated serial number
that enables law enforcement to trace to purchasers the firearms recovered at crime scenes. That
feature alone makes the guns attractive to the criminal market bent on evading detection. Worse
yet, ghost guns are sold online without the background checks legally mandated for all gun sales
in New York, making them still more attractive to an illicit market of felons, domestic abusers,
children – anyone barred by law from acquiring guns.
29. Typically, when a law enforcement agent recovers a firearm, the agent uses the
serial number and other required markings to initiate a trace request through the ATF. The
ability to trace a firearm to its point of original sale is essential to an investigation; by doing so,
6
18 U.S.C. § 923(i); 27 CFR 478.92.
7
The term “ghost gun” is also sometimes used to describe commercially-available firearms that have had their serial
numbers removed. The allegations in this complaint target only those unserialized and thus untraceable firearms
constructed by the purchaser from component parts, or sold by a Federal Firearms License dealer without a serial
number in the first place.
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law enforcement agents can generate leads and identify straw purchasers and firearms traffickers,
as well as establish whether the weapon traveled in interstate commerce—an element of most
federal gun laws.8
30. The emergence of untraceable firearms, sold for manufacture by consumers as
component parts and kits in an effort to circumvent federal and state regulation, undermines
nearly 60 years of lawmakers’ efforts to prevent dangerous persons from possessing firearms and
to assist law enforcement in combating the use of firearms in criminal activity.
31. Amid spiking rates of violent crime and following several high-profile
assassinations—including that of President Kennedy by mail-ordered rifle—Congress passed
landmark legislation in 1968 to assert federal control over the manufacture, distribution,
purchase, and sale of firearms. One of the principal aims of the Gun Control Act of 1968 was
to stop minors, those with prior criminal convictions, and others with dangerous histories from
obtaining mail-order firearms without federal oversight or regulation. (emphasis added).
To achieve this aim, the Act mandates that firearms dealers be federally licensed and that every
firearm sold by a federally licensed dealer be stamped with a serial number to enable law
enforcement to trace the origin of the weapon. The Act was later amended to require
background checks on all firearm purchases from licensed sellers.
32. Ghost guns directly undermine the Gun Control Act’s purpose. They are
exceedingly difficult to trace. A finished product comes with no records. Precisely for this
reason, unserialized firearm kits and component parts are highly attractive to those involved in
criminal activity. As one court has observed, “there would appear to be no compelling reason
why a law-abiding citizen would prefer an unmarked firearm. These weapons would then have
8
See, e.g., 18 U.S.C. § 922.
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value primarily for persons seeking to use them for illicit purposes.”9 Given that manufacturers
and sellers like Defendant POLYMER80 do not conduct background checks, the unserialized
firearm kits and component parts are often purchased by or otherwise end up in the hands of
persons prohibited by the Gun Control Act - Defendant RYAN in this case.
33. Ghost gun sellers operate on the pretense that their products are not firearms
because they are “unfinished” and hence when sold require neither serial numbers nor
background checks. Defendant POLYMER80’s business model is to sell “unfinished” frames to
persons who, following Defendant’s simple instructions, will “finish” them – by adding the
remaining components to assemble fully operational firearms. Defendant POLYMER80
provides step by step instruction manuals, easily accessible on the internet, to explain to
customers the steps to complete the frame or receiver and assemble an operable firearm using
simple tools.10
34. Ghost guns and their central component, so-called “unfinished” or “80%” frames
or lower receivers, are illegal to sell or possess under New York City and New York State law,
and constitute a statutory and common law public nuisance, which defendant POLYMER80
causes and to which it contributes. Defendant POLYMER80 hawks ghost gun components over
the internet to New York City residents, thwarting federal, state and local firearms laws.
35. New York City is experiencing the entirely predictable result of Defendants
lawless behavior: exponentially-increasing numbers of untraceable ghost guns used in crimes in
the City, including multiple murders and other crimes of violence, often committed by persons
who could never legally acquire a conventional firearm in the first place. Felons and other
prohibited or unlicensed possessors of guns also amass large caches of untraceable weapons; a
9
United States v. Marzzarella, 614 F.3d 85, 95 (3d Cir. 2010).
10
See, e.g., Polymer80 Website, “How to,” https://polymer80.com/how-to-manuals/ (captured March 13, 2024).
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ghost gun has even been brought to school by a high school student.11
36. The image below shows the parts of a simulated Glock ghost gun—the most
commonly-recovered type of ghost gun in New York City—with the frame shown in light gray,
and the parts required to finish the gun shown in black.12
37. Incidents involving ghost guns reflect a dangerously escalating trend, from 17
ghost guns recovered in arrests in 2018, to 48 in 2019, 150 in 2020 and 263 in 2021. The
recovery by NYPD of 263 ghost guns in 2021 arrests represents a fifteen-fold increase over the
17 ghost guns recovered in 2018. NYPD’s 2022 ghost gun recoveries are on pace to exceed the
2021 total, with 175 ghost guns recovered via arrests through June 14, 2022, approximately 9%
of the guns recovered by the NYPD during arrests.13
11
Reuven Fenton, Joe Marino and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon, ‘Ghost gun’-obsessed Taco Bell staffer returned to work after
fatal shooting: DA, N.Y. Post (May 4, 2022), available at https://perma.cc/Q8SX-AWFW (captured May, 17, 2022);
Larry Celona, Tina Moore, Kevin Sheehan and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon, This is the ‘ghost gun’ tied to the shooting of a
Bronx teenager, N.Y. Post (April 10, 2022), available at https://perma.cc/2XCX-U3X3 (captured May 6, 2022);
NYPD: 5 Shot, Including Suspect, After Fight Breaks Out As Bars Close In Upper Manhattan, CBS News New
York (Sept. 27, 2021), available at https://perma.cc/3TE3-EEET (captured May 17, 2022); 3 Men Shot As Groups
Clash Outside Manhattan Recording Studio, CBS News New York (November 17, 2021), available at
https://perma.cc/SDS5-84LZ (captured May 17, 2022)).
12
Everytownresearch.org, Untraceable: The Rising Specter of Ghost Guns, (May 14, 2020),
https://everytownresearch.org/report/the-rising-specter-of-ghost-guns/.
13
NYC Ghost Gun Complaint, available at https://www.nyc.gov/assets/home/downloads/pdf/press-
releases/2022/ghost-gun-complaint.pdf (captured March 14, 2024).
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38. Nationally, the federal government estimates that between 2016 and 2021, law
enforcement recovered more than 45,000 ghost guns from crime scenes, including 692 murder or
attempted murder scenes. The annual totals recovered increased ten-fold during the course of the
six-year period considered by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
(“ATF”)14, bearing in mind that these numbers are limited to recovered ghost guns; countless
more remain on the streets or in homes—unlicensed, untraceable, and invisible to law
enforcement.
39. Defendant POLYMER80’s illegal conduct thus results in a proliferation of
unserialized, untraceable, unlawful ghost guns in the City’s streets and homes, making New
York City more dangerous for both the public and for law enforcement, causing a quintessential
public nuisance.
40. Federal law prohibits licensed dealers from selling firearms without conducting
background checks and from selling handguns to individuals under 21 years old. Contrary to
these regulations, upon information and belief, Defendant RYAN, a minor at the time, or his
acquaintance was able to purchase and/or obtain a frame, receiver, and/or PF940C 80% frame kit
online from Defendant POLYMER80 and/or its network of dealers without a background check
or age verification.
41. The kit manufactured and sold by Defendant POLYMER80, contained necessary
parts to build a firearm, requiring minimal effort to assemble a fully functioning firearm. Thus,
Defendant POLYMER80 effectively provided a 17-year-old with a ghost gun, lacking a
background check and serial number. The deadly outcome of POLYMER80's reckless business
practices was both tragic and foreseeable.
14
ATF, Final Rule, “Definition of ‘Frame or Receiver’ and Identification of Firearms,” Fed. Reg. Vol. 87. No. 80,
24652, 24656 (April 26, 2022).
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42. The online sale of ghost gun kits posed a significant risk to the foreseeable
Plaintiff. The absence of face-to-face interactions and attempts to verify a buyer's age allows
individuals who are too young or legally prohibited from owning firearms to easily obtain them.
43. Indeed, prior to April 8, 2022, Defendant POLYMER80, via its network and
dealer affiliates, sold Defendant RYAN, or his criminal acquaintances, a gun-building kit online,
along with necessary parts and instructions to quickly assemble a handgun, and shipped it
directly to him. Defendant POLYMER80 did not conduct a background check or verify the
Defendant RYAN or his acquaintance’s age or legal eligibility to purchase a firearm.
44. On April 8, 2022, Defendant RYAN fired multiple shots from a 9mm pistol, made
from a Defendant POLYMER80 PF940C frame, at the intersection of East 156th Street and St.
Ann’s Avenue in the Bronx, hitting Angellyh Marie Yambo and two other teenagers. Angellyh
succumbed to her bullet wounds.
45. This shooting would not have occurred, and Angellyh would still be alive today,
were it not for the negligent, reckless, and unlawful business practices of Defendant
POLYMER80.
B. Defendant POLYMER80 is largely responsible for the proliferation of ghost guns.
46. Law enforcement statistics show that a large percentage of the ghost guns
recovered at crime scenes were assembled from POLYMER80’s products. Of approximately
1,475 ghost guns seized in 2019 and entered into the ATF’s database of ballistic images, over
86% (1,278) of these weapons were assembled from POLYMER80 components.
47. POLYMER80’s shipping records show that Defendant shipped approximately
51,800 items across the United States between January 2019 and October 13, 2020.15 And
15
Affidavit of ATF Special Agent Tolliver Hart, In the Matter of the Search of the business and Federal Firearms
Licensee known as POLYMER80, which is located at 134 Lakes Blvd., Dayton, NV 89403, 3:20-mj-123-WGC, ¶79
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between July 2019 and October 10, 2020, Polymer80 shipped at least 1,490 Buy Build Shoot
Kits to consumers in 46 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.16
48. At all relevant times, POLYMER80 sold untraceable firearm kits and components
without first conducting background checks—foreseeably resulting in sales to persons who
cannot legally purchase a serialized, traceable weapon from a licensed dealer. Moreover,
POLYMER80 misleadingly suggested on its website that ATF has concluded that its kits are not
firearms, and then illegally ships those kits, which can be readily assembled into fully
operational firearms, to consumers in New York.
49. At all relevant times, on POLYMER80’S website, consumers could purchase
unfinished lower receivers for rifles or unfinished handgun frames, along with other materials
necessary to complete the assembly of a fully functional firearm, including seven or more types
of handguns.17
50. At all relevant times, Defendant POLYMER80 manufactured, marketed and sold
frame kits for handguns.18 As of March 25, 2024, POLYMER80 was still advertising the sale of
these frame kits and lower receiver kits through its website.19 POLYMER80’s pistol frame kits
are sold with a “complete finishing jig and drill bits.20” Figure 1, below, is a screenshot of the
Defendant POLYMER80’s webpage from the wayback machine21 taken on January 18, 2022,
(D. Nev. Dec. 9, 2020).
16
Id. at ¶ 80.
17
“Unfinished” frames and receivers, as that term is used in this Complaint, are the core components of firearms that
are solid in certain specified areas—i.e., without drilling or machining in those areas—even though they are
designed to be and are readily converted into operable weapons. “Unfinished” frames and receivers are colloquially
referred to as “80%,” meaning 80% complete—although that description is not formally recognized by the ATF and
misdescribes their completeness).
18
“PF940C 80% Compact Pistol Frame Kit” Polymer80, available at https://polymer80.com/pf940c-80-compact-
pistol-frame-kit-gray_2/ (last visited March 25, 2024).
19
Id.
20
Id.
21
The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web that allows the user to go "back in time" to see
how websites looked in the past. See
https://web.archive.org/web/20220118234539/https://www.polymer80.com/PF940C-80-Compact-Pistol-Frame-Kit-
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showing a Polymer80 PF940C 80% frame kit for sale - the same pistol frame used by Defendant
RYAN to commit the shooting and killing of Angellyh.
51. Finally, POLYMER80 sells other components to enable a customer to assemble a
complete handgun, including pistol barrels, slides, and trigger assemblies.
52. Beyond selling these products, POLYMER80 takes it a step further by offering
written step-by-step assembly instructions online, accompanied by supplemental videos, to
facilitate the manufacture of both pistols and semi-automatic rifles in a matter of a few hours or
Black_2 (captured 3/25/2024).
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less. POLYMER80 even touts its superior customer service that is on standby to assist its
customers in manufacturing firearms from its kits and components. “We want to give the
customers all the tools they need, as much as we can anyway, to complete this product.”22
53. Defendant POLYMER80, by selling all the component parts together with the
means to readily convert the parts into firearms, effectively puts firearms into the hands of
customers and subverts regulations that apply to the sale of firearms.
54. Under federal law, a frame or lower receiver is regulated in the same way as a
complete firearm. Indeed, federal law defines “firearm” to include a complete (or near complete)
gun and the “frame or receiver” of a firearm. Specifically, the Gun Control Act defines
“firearm,” in relevant part, as:
(A) any weapon … which will or is designed to or may readily be
converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive; [or]
(B) the frame or receiver of any such weapon.
55. 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(3) (emphasis added). A frame or receiver is accordingly
subject to the same serialization and federal background check requirements as a complete
firearm.
56. Defendant POLYMER80’s business model is to sell so-called “unfinished”
frames or receivers to persons who will assemble them into fully operational firearms, using
parts or kits purchased from Defendant POLYMER80, its network of online dealers, or other
ghost gun dealers. Defendant POLYMER80 sells frames or receivers that they claim are partly
“unfinished,” or “80%” complete, and thereby purport to skirt the statutory definition of a
firearm and avoid the application of federal law and regulation altogether. In fact, as sold by
Defendant POLYMER80, frames and receivers are “firearms” because they are “designed to or
22
Shooters Nation, 020 Dan McCalmon of Polymer 80, YOUTUBE (Aug. 10, 2018), available at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nybZ3iNfUhU.
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may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive” or are “the frame or
receiver of any such weapon.”
57. Independently, “unfinished” frames and receivers and “80% frames” are illegal
under local and state law. Legislatures responded to the ghost gun ruse by expressly so
specifying. Sales and delivery of “unfinished” frames or receivers into New York City has been
illegal under N.Y.C. Admin. Code § 10-314 since February 2020, and under N.Y. Penal Law §§
265.60-.64 since April 26, 2022.
58. By purporting to sell “unfinished” frames and receivers to consumers without
background checks, without serial numbers, and without complying with any other federal, state,
and local laws governing firearms, Defendant POLYMER80’s assist and facilitate the evasion of
federal, state and local laws banning the sale or possession of “unfinished” frames and receivers.
59. Indeed, evasion of regulation is the core of Defendants’ business model. The
appeal of ghost guns is rooted largely, if not entirely, in their purported status as outside the
reach of the firearms laws. Defendant Polymer80, the dominant ghost gun manufacturer in the
United States, has admitted in court that if its “80%” frames and receivers were deemed firearms
under federal law, sales of its products would decline precipitously: “annual revenue would be
diminished by more than fifty (50) percent, and perhaps by as much as seventy-five (75)
percent.”23
60. It is child’s play to turn an “unfinished” frame or receiver into a “finished” frame
or receiver, and then assemble a fully functional gun. Defendants make “finishing” still simpler
and quicker by selling the “unfinished” frame or receiver in a kit that includes a template (known
23
See Declaration of David L. Borges in Support of Motion of Polymer80 Inc. to Intervene in this Action, dated
Dec. 30, 2020, City of Syracuse, NY v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, 20-cv-6885
(S.D.N.Y.) (ECF # 80).
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as a “jig”), drill bits, and other hardware. The jig is a molded case into which the “unfinished”
frame or receiver fits, with holes labeled for insertion of drill bits, and with directions about the
removal of certain polymer tabs.
61. Persons seeking to mass-produce ghost guns can purchase the “Ghost Gunner,” a
machine that finishes the frame or receiver still faster and with less work than hand assembly—
an especially attractive option for those seeking to traffic ghost guns.24
C. Defendant POLYMER80 violates, circumvents, and assists its customers in violating
and evading local, state, and federal gun laws designed to protect public safety.
62. The purpose and the result of the ghost gun business model is the easy acquisition
of untraceable, operable firearms without compliance with federal, state, and local laws
regulating firearms. Defendants intentionally assist their customers in violating those laws, and
themselves violate the state and local laws prohibiting the sale of “unfinished” frames and
receivers into New York City and State.
The Federal Gun Control Act
63. As previously stated, the 1968 federal Gun Control Act regulates the manufacture,
sale, and possession of firearms, including frames and receivers. 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(3). The Gun
Control Act requires all commerce in firearms to proceed through federally licensed
manufacturers, importers, and dealers, known as federal firearms licensees (“FFLs”), 18 U.S.C.
§§ 922(a)(1)(A); 923(a), who in turn must operate in strict conformity with federal, state, and
local laws pertaining to firearms.
64. To ensure that all firearms may be traced to the first purchaser, federal law
requires licensed manufacturers and importers to inscribe a serial number on the frame or
24
See https://ghostgunner.net/, also available at https://perma.cc/55AU-AEUA; See also https://ny1.com/nyc/all-
boroughs/news/2023/09/28/teen-charged-ghost-gun-bust-east-harlem-day-care.
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receiver of each firearm they manufacture or import.25
65. The holder of a federal firearm license must conduct a background check on any
customer who wishes to purchase a firearm, to prevent the acquisition of firearms by people
deemed unfit to possess them.26 Indeed, licensed dealers may not sell or transfer a firearm to
specified prohibited persons, as determined through a mandatory background check.27
66. To curb gun trafficking or transfers of guns to prohibited persons, federal law
prohibits FFLs from shipping firearms to purchasers, and requires all firearm sales be conducted
in person except in very limited circumstances requiring, among other things, notice to law
enforcement.28 FFLs may not sell or deliver a firearm to any person where the purchase or
possession violates any applicable state or local law29, or to persons that do not reside in the state
of the dealer’s place of business, except for in-person sales of rifles or shotguns that fully comply
with both states’ laws.30
67. Licensed manufacturers and dealers must keep records of all firearm sales, noting
the make, model, and serial number of the firearm, as well as the “name, age, and place of
residence” of the purchaser.31 FFLs may not sell a firearm without providing the recipient with a
secure gun storage or safety device.32
68. On April 26, 2022, ATF published a final rule, effective August 24, 2022, stating
that the “unfinished” frame and receiver kits Defendants sell are firearms under the Gun Control
Act.33 The Final Rule explains that “a frame or receiver parts kit containing a partially complete
25
18 U.S.C. § 923(i).
26
§922(t)(1).
27
18 U.S.C. § 922(d), (t).
28
18 U.S.C. §§ 922(a)(2), (c).
29
18 U.S.C. § 922(b)(2)
30
18 U.S.C. § 922(b)(3).
31
18 U.S.C. §§ 922(b)(5), 923(g)(1)(A).
32
18 U.S.C. § 922(z).
33
See ATF, Final Rule, “Definition of ‘Frame or Receiver’ and Identification of Firearms,” Fed. Reg. Vol. 87. No.
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… blank of a frame or receiver that is sold, distributed, or possessed with a compatible jig or
template is a frame or receiver, as a person with online instructions and common hand tools may
readily complete or assemble the frame or receiver parts to function as a frame or receiver.”34
69. The Final Rule nullifies prior informal ATF guidance, set forth in determination
letters to a ghost gun manufacturer, finding that certain examples of “unfinished” “80%” frames
or receivers, when considered in isolation, did not constitute firearms under federal law. ATF’s
Final Rule is consistent with, and correctly interprets, the federal Gun Control Act.35
New York State Law
70. Since April 26, 2022, New York State law has expressly prohibited the
possession, sale, or offering for sale of ghost guns and “unfinished” or unserialized frames or
receivers by or to persons in New York State.36
New York City Law
71. Since February 2020, New York City law has prohibited the possession, sale,
transfer, or offering for sale of an “unfinished frame or receiver” by or to a person in New York
City.37 An “unfinished frame or recei
Preview
FILED: BRONX COUNTY CLERK 03/26/2024 05:07 PM INDEX NO. 804999/2024E NYSCEF DOC. NO. 1 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/26/2024 SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK COUNTY OF BRONX -------------------------------------------------------------------------------X YANELY M. HENRIQUEZ, Individually and as Administrator of Index No.: the Estate of ANGELLYH M. YAMBO a/k/a ANGELLYH M. YAMBO HENRIQUEZ, SUMMONS Plaintiff, Plaintiff designates Bronx -against- County as the place of trial. POLYMER80, INC., and JEREMIAH RYAN, Plaintiff’s basis for venue is: Plaintiff’s residence within Defendants. Bronx County. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------X TO THE ABOVE-NAMED DEFENDANTS: YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to answer the Verified Complaint of the Plaintiff in this action, which is served herewith upon you, and to Answer upon the undersigned attorneys for the Plaintiff, within twenty (20) days after the service of the Summons and Complaint, exclusive of the day of service, or within thirty (30) days if such service is made by any method other than personal delivery upon you and in case of your failure to appear or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the Complaint. Dated: New York, New York March 26, 2024 Yours,. LEAV & STEINBERG, LLP Attorneys for Plaintiff YANELY M. HENRIQUEZ, Individually and as Administrator of the Estate of ANGELLYH M. YAMBO 75 Broad Street, Suite 1601 New York, New York 10004 (212) 766-5222 abeneduce@LSTrialLaw.com TO: POLYMER80, INC. 134 Lakes Boulevard Dayton, NV 89403 JEREMIAH RYAN To be served pursuant to New York Correction Law §620 and CPLR §308 1 of 47 FILED: BRONX COUNTY CLERK 03/26/2024 05:07 PM INDEX NO. 804999/2024E NYSCEF DOC. NO. 1 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/26/2024 SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK COUNTY OF BRONX -------------------------------------------------------------------------------X YANELY M. HENRIQUEZ, Individually and as Administrator of the Estate of ANGELLYH M. YAMBO a/k/a ANGELLYH M. YAMBO HENRIQUEZ, Index No.: Plaintiff, -against- JURY TRIAL DEMANDED POLYMER80, INC., and JEREMIAH RYAN, Defendants. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------X VERIFIED COMPLAINT LEAV & STEINBERG, LLP Anthony M. Beneduce, Esq. Edward A. Steinberg, Esq. 75 Broad Street, Suite 1601 New York, NY 01 Phone: (212) 766-5222 abeneduce@LSTrialLaw.com eas@LSTrialLaw.com 2 of 47 FILED: BRONX COUNTY CLERK 03/26/2024 05:07 PM INDEX NO. 804999/2024E NYSCEF DOC. NO. 1 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/26/2024 INTRODUCTION "I am preparing for one of the hardest days of my life tomorrow," Yanely Henriquez said. "We need a change. You know, we should not be burying our kids. Mothers should not be going through this."1 1. At 1:45 p.m. on April 8, 2022, 16-year-old Angellyh Marie Yambo left her high school and stopped at a local Bronx bodega for a snack. Tragically, as she returned to the sidewalk, a bullet from then 17-year-old Defendant JEREMIAH RYAN’s (“RYAN”) ghost gun ended her life. This innocent teenager, full of dreams and potential, was suddenly gone. 2. The wrongful death of Angellyh M. Yambo on April 8, 2022, did not occur in isolation. It was the result of a series of unlawful and irresponsible actions of a bad actor within the gun industry. Driven by greed, Defendant POLYMER80, INC. (“POLYMER80”), recklessly and knowingly violated Federal and State laws, and equipped the Shooter with a ghost gun – a firearm he could not have otherwise accessed – to commit the shooting. 3. This lawsuit is one Bronx family’s cry out for justice and for a future where the Bronx streets are safe for all, especially the innocent and the young. This is not just a story of loss; it is a call to action to protect innocent lives from a gun industry member that knowingly and recklessly breaks the law and endangers the safety of New Yorkers for profit. 4. Just as the Defendant RYAN has been held to account criminally for his actions2, Defendant POLYMER80 must answer for the critical role it played in facilitating the wrongful death of a 16-year-old Bronxite Angellyh’s Marie Yambo. 1 17-year-old to be charged as adult in killing of teenage girl in Bronx, ABC 7 NY News (April 11, 2022), available at https://abc7ny.com/bronx-teen-shot-angellyh-yambo-jeremiah-ryan-shooting-suspect-identified/11736276/, (captured March 13, 2024). 2 Bronx District Attorney’s Office Press Release (September 15, 2023), available at https://www.bronxda.nyc.gov/downloads/pdf/pr/2023/59-2023-jermiah-ryan-sentenced-yambo-shooting.pdf, (captured March 13, 2024). 3 of 47 FILED: BRONX COUNTY CLERK 03/26/2024 05:07 PM INDEX NO. 804999/2024E NYSCEF DOC. NO. 1 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/26/2024 PARTIES A. Plaintiff, Yanely M. Henriquez, Individually and as Administrator of the Estate of Angellyh Marie Yambo a/k/a Angellyh Marie Yambo Henriquez 5. Plaintiff Yanely M. Henriquez (“Plaintiff” or “Ms. Henriquez”), is the mother and natural guardian of Angellyh Marie Yambo a/k/a Angellyh Marie Yambo Henriquez, deceased, and Administrator of the Estate of Angelyyh Marie Yambo a/k/a Angellyh Marie Yambo Henriquez.3 Ms. Henriquez is a resident of Bronx County, New York, as was Angellyh prior to her death. 6. Shortly before her death, Angellyh had celebrated her Sweet Sixteen. Her dreams of one day attending medical school and becoming a doctor were cut short due to the Defendants’ unlawful acts. 3 See annexed hereto as Exhibit A, Letters of Administration Appointing Yanely M. Henriquez as Administrator of the Estate Angellyh Marie Yambo a/k/a Angellyh Marie Yambo Henriquez issued by the Hon. Elizabeth A. Taylor, JSC, Acting Surrogate of Bronx County Surrogates Court. 4 of 47 FILED: BRONX COUNTY CLERK 03/26/2024 05:07 PM INDEX NO. 804999/2024E NYSCEF DOC. NO. 1 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/26/2024 7. On the afternoon of the shooting, while leaving a bodega at East 156th Street and St. Ann’s Avenue in the Bronx, New York, heading home from school, Angellyh was struck by bullets discharged from RYAN’s POLYMER80 ghost gun. She later died from her bullet wounds. 8. Ms. Henriquez waited anxiously for her daughter to arrive home from school that day, only to learn that Angellyh had been killed. 9. Two other innocent teenagers were shot and seriously injured by the Defendant RYAN’s POLYMER80 ghost gun. B. Defendant POLYMER80, Inc. 10. Upon information and belief, Defendant POLYMER80, a Nevada corporation based in Dayton, Nevada, both shipped directly to consumers in and coordinated with third-party dealers to do business in the City and State of New York. Additionally, at all relevant times, Defendant POLYMER80 was a federally licensed firearm manufacturer and dealer. 11. Upon information and belief, Defendant POLYMER80, equipped Defendant RYAN with the subject ghost gun he used to shoot and kill Angellyh. 12. POLYMER80 offers build yourself at home pistol kits and pistol frame and/or component kits through its website and dealer network for assembling untraceable firearms, including Glock-style handguns, known as "ghost guns" for their lack of serial numbers, making them nearly impossible for law enforcement to trace. 13. POLYMER80 intentionally structured their business to circumvent firearm laws by designing, manufacturing, and selling ghost gun kits that can readily be assembled into functional firearms, without background checks. 14. POLYMER80, at all times relevant, falsely marketed and advertised its ghost gun 5 of 47 FILED: BRONX COUNTY CLERK 03/26/2024 05:07 PM INDEX NO. 804999/2024E NYSCEF DOC. NO. 1 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/26/2024 kits as devices that make firearms comply with New York law. This misleading promotion enabled Defendant RYAN to obtain an umarked, unserialized, untraceable ghost gun, a firearm otherwise inaccessible to him because of his age, which he then used to shoot three teenagers, fatally injuring one. Despite claims of compliance with New York law, POLYMER80 knowingly created the mere illusion of compliance and offered New Yorkers a way to circumvent the law. Revealing its true intentions, the company publicly acknowledged that its POLYMER80 ghost gun kits was a workaround developed in response to the “trampling” of the rights of U.S. citizens to bear arms in “non-free states” that have restrictive gun laws, such as New York. 15. POLYMER80, at all relevant times targeted New York customers, including minors, such as Defendant RYAN, with its products claiming they could circumvent state firearm laws. POLYMER80 marketed and sold its products, including PF940C 80% pistol frame kits, to customers in New York, through its website and third-party sellers. Its marketing materials were aimed at New York customers, including minors, like Defendant RYAN, in this case, among others. 16. Upon information and belief, POLYMER80, through its website and third-party sellers, regularly shipped ghost gun kits to purchasers in New York. 17. POLYMER80 purposefully availed itself of New York law by manufacturing, marketing, and selling products, including the ghost gun kits, that are (or were at all relevant times) sold in the City and State of New York. 18. Upon information and belief, the New York City Police Department seized a 9mm black/brown pistol made up of a PF940C Polymer80, Inc. frame from Defendant RYAN as 6 of 47 FILED: BRONX COUNTY CLERK 03/26/2024 05:07 PM INDEX NO. 804999/2024E NYSCEF DOC. NO. 1 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/26/2024 he attempted to discard the subject ghost gun during his arrest.4 19. Plaintiff’s injuries arise out of Defendant POLYMER80’s purposeful availment of New York law and its targeting of customers located in New York. C. Defendant JEREMIAH RYAN 20. At all relevant times, Defendant RYAN was a resident of Bronx County, New York. 21. Defendant RYAN admitted guilt to second-degree murder of Angellyh Marie Yambo on August 4, 2023, and was sentenced by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Rosenblueth to 15 years to life in prison on September 15, 2023. 5 4 Response to Plaintiff’s Subpoena Duces Tecum to the Office of the Bronx District Attorney’s Office for file of indictment number 71595/2022. 5 Bronx District Attorney’s Office Press Release (September 15, 2023), available at https://www.bronxda.nyc.gov/downloads/pdf/pr/2023/59-2023-jermiah-ryan-sentenced-yambo-shooting.pdf, (captured March 13, 2024) 7 of 47 FILED: BRONX COUNTY CLERK 03/26/2024 05:07 PM INDEX NO. 804999/2024E NYSCEF DOC. NO. 1 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/26/2024 JURISDICTION AND VENUE 22. Jurisdiction is proper under CPLR §§ 301 and 302. Defendant POLYMER80 conducts business in the State of New York and/or has purposefully availed itself of the jurisdiction of this Court by transacting business in this State. 23. Upon information and belief POLYMER80, conducted business in New York, and/or profited from their activities directed toward the State of New York. 24. Upon information and belief, the events giving rise to this Complaint, including Defendant POLYMER80’s marketing and sale of the firearm through Defendant POLYMER80’s online website, and/or Defendant POLYMER’s third-party seller, and/or a third-party purchase and transfer of possession of the firearm to Defendant RYAN, and the shooting on April 8, 2022, occurred in the Bronx, City and State of New York. The combination of events and actions by Defendant POLYMER80 and Defendant RYAN give rise to Plaintiff’s claims. 25. The non-domiciliary Defendant POLYMER80 transacted business within the state, committed tortious acts within the state, and/or committed tortious acts outside of the state that foreseeably resulted in injury to Angellyh Marie Yambo and Plaintiff Henriquez. This Defendant persistently targeted the New York consumer market with knowledge that their products would likely be misused in New York and/or engaged in another persistent course of conduct directed at New York. This Defendant should reasonably have expected their conduct to have consequences in New York. 26. Venue is proper in Bronx County pursuant to CPLR § 503(a) and (b) because it is the county where a substantial part of the events—specifically the shooting —occurred. It is also the county where Plaintiff Henriquez resides, as did Angellyh, and Defendant RYAN. 8 of 47 FILED: BRONX COUNTY CLERK 03/26/2024 05:07 PM INDEX NO. 804999/2024E NYSCEF DOC. NO. 1 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/26/2024 GENERAL ALLEGATIONS A. Ghost guns have created a public safety emergency. 27. Pursuant to federal law, a firearm made by a federally licensed manufacturer must be engraved with identifying information, including the applicable make and model as well as a unique serial number.6 A “ghost gun,” as the term is used throughout this complaint, is a term commonly used by law enforcement and others to refer to a firearm that (a) started off as an unfinished lower receiver or frame purchased in a kit or separately along with other necessary parts, and (b) was assembled by the purchaser into a completed and functional firearm that has no serial number. Because these ghost guns are manufactured and assembled into operable form only upon receipt, their components are acquired without a background check, and once assembled, these weapons lack the identifying information critical to law enforcement.7 28. Ghost guns are deliberately sold without the federally-mandated serial number that enables law enforcement to trace to purchasers the firearms recovered at crime scenes. That feature alone makes the guns attractive to the criminal market bent on evading detection. Worse yet, ghost guns are sold online without the background checks legally mandated for all gun sales in New York, making them still more attractive to an illicit market of felons, domestic abusers, children – anyone barred by law from acquiring guns. 29. Typically, when a law enforcement agent recovers a firearm, the agent uses the serial number and other required markings to initiate a trace request through the ATF. The ability to trace a firearm to its point of original sale is essential to an investigation; by doing so, 6 18 U.S.C. § 923(i); 27 CFR 478.92. 7 The term “ghost gun” is also sometimes used to describe commercially-available firearms that have had their serial numbers removed. The allegations in this complaint target only those unserialized and thus untraceable firearms constructed by the purchaser from component parts, or sold by a Federal Firearms License dealer without a serial number in the first place. 9 of 47 FILED: BRONX COUNTY CLERK 03/26/2024 05:07 PM INDEX NO. 804999/2024E NYSCEF DOC. NO. 1 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/26/2024 law enforcement agents can generate leads and identify straw purchasers and firearms traffickers, as well as establish whether the weapon traveled in interstate commerce—an element of most federal gun laws.8 30. The emergence of untraceable firearms, sold for manufacture by consumers as component parts and kits in an effort to circumvent federal and state regulation, undermines nearly 60 years of lawmakers’ efforts to prevent dangerous persons from possessing firearms and to assist law enforcement in combating the use of firearms in criminal activity. 31. Amid spiking rates of violent crime and following several high-profile assassinations—including that of President Kennedy by mail-ordered rifle—Congress passed landmark legislation in 1968 to assert federal control over the manufacture, distribution, purchase, and sale of firearms. One of the principal aims of the Gun Control Act of 1968 was to stop minors, those with prior criminal convictions, and others with dangerous histories from obtaining mail-order firearms without federal oversight or regulation. (emphasis added). To achieve this aim, the Act mandates that firearms dealers be federally licensed and that every firearm sold by a federally licensed dealer be stamped with a serial number to enable law enforcement to trace the origin of the weapon. The Act was later amended to require background checks on all firearm purchases from licensed sellers. 32. Ghost guns directly undermine the Gun Control Act’s purpose. They are exceedingly difficult to trace. A finished product comes with no records. Precisely for this reason, unserialized firearm kits and component parts are highly attractive to those involved in criminal activity. As one court has observed, “there would appear to be no compelling reason why a law-abiding citizen would prefer an unmarked firearm. These weapons would then have 8 See, e.g., 18 U.S.C. § 922. 10 of 47 FILED: BRONX COUNTY CLERK 03/26/2024 05:07 PM INDEX NO. 804999/2024E NYSCEF DOC. NO. 1 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/26/2024 value primarily for persons seeking to use them for illicit purposes.”9 Given that manufacturers and sellers like Defendant POLYMER80 do not conduct background checks, the unserialized firearm kits and component parts are often purchased by or otherwise end up in the hands of persons prohibited by the Gun Control Act - Defendant RYAN in this case. 33. Ghost gun sellers operate on the pretense that their products are not firearms because they are “unfinished” and hence when sold require neither serial numbers nor background checks. Defendant POLYMER80’s business model is to sell “unfinished” frames to persons who, following Defendant’s simple instructions, will “finish” them – by adding the remaining components to assemble fully operational firearms. Defendant POLYMER80 provides step by step instruction manuals, easily accessible on the internet, to explain to customers the steps to complete the frame or receiver and assemble an operable firearm using simple tools.10 34. Ghost guns and their central component, so-called “unfinished” or “80%” frames or lower receivers, are illegal to sell or possess under New York City and New York State law, and constitute a statutory and common law public nuisance, which defendant POLYMER80 causes and to which it contributes. Defendant POLYMER80 hawks ghost gun components over the internet to New York City residents, thwarting federal, state and local firearms laws. 35. New York City is experiencing the entirely predictable result of Defendants lawless behavior: exponentially-increasing numbers of untraceable ghost guns used in crimes in the City, including multiple murders and other crimes of violence, often committed by persons who could never legally acquire a conventional firearm in the first place. Felons and other prohibited or unlicensed possessors of guns also amass large caches of untraceable weapons; a 9 United States v. Marzzarella, 614 F.3d 85, 95 (3d Cir. 2010). 10 See, e.g., Polymer80 Website, “How to,” https://polymer80.com/how-to-manuals/ (captured March 13, 2024). 11 of 47 FILED: BRONX COUNTY CLERK 03/26/2024 05:07 PM INDEX NO. 804999/2024E NYSCEF DOC. NO. 1 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/26/2024 ghost gun has even been brought to school by a high school student.11 36. The image below shows the parts of a simulated Glock ghost gun—the most commonly-recovered type of ghost gun in New York City—with the frame shown in light gray, and the parts required to finish the gun shown in black.12 37. Incidents involving ghost guns reflect a dangerously escalating trend, from 17 ghost guns recovered in arrests in 2018, to 48 in 2019, 150 in 2020 and 263 in 2021. The recovery by NYPD of 263 ghost guns in 2021 arrests represents a fifteen-fold increase over the 17 ghost guns recovered in 2018. NYPD’s 2022 ghost gun recoveries are on pace to exceed the 2021 total, with 175 ghost guns recovered via arrests through June 14, 2022, approximately 9% of the guns recovered by the NYPD during arrests.13 11 Reuven Fenton, Joe Marino and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon, ‘Ghost gun’-obsessed Taco Bell staffer returned to work after fatal shooting: DA, N.Y. Post (May 4, 2022), available at https://perma.cc/Q8SX-AWFW (captured May, 17, 2022); Larry Celona, Tina Moore, Kevin Sheehan and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon, This is the ‘ghost gun’ tied to the shooting of a Bronx teenager, N.Y. Post (April 10, 2022), available at https://perma.cc/2XCX-U3X3 (captured May 6, 2022); NYPD: 5 Shot, Including Suspect, After Fight Breaks Out As Bars Close In Upper Manhattan, CBS News New York (Sept. 27, 2021), available at https://perma.cc/3TE3-EEET (captured May 17, 2022); 3 Men Shot As Groups Clash Outside Manhattan Recording Studio, CBS News New York (November 17, 2021), available at https://perma.cc/SDS5-84LZ (captured May 17, 2022)). 12 Everytownresearch.org, Untraceable: The Rising Specter of Ghost Guns, (May 14, 2020), https://everytownresearch.org/report/the-rising-specter-of-ghost-guns/. 13 NYC Ghost Gun Complaint, available at https://www.nyc.gov/assets/home/downloads/pdf/press- releases/2022/ghost-gun-complaint.pdf (captured March 14, 2024). 12 of 47 FILED: BRONX COUNTY CLERK 03/26/2024 05:07 PM INDEX NO. 804999/2024E NYSCEF DOC. NO. 1 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/26/2024 38. Nationally, the federal government estimates that between 2016 and 2021, law enforcement recovered more than 45,000 ghost guns from crime scenes, including 692 murder or attempted murder scenes. The annual totals recovered increased ten-fold during the course of the six-year period considered by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”)14, bearing in mind that these numbers are limited to recovered ghost guns; countless more remain on the streets or in homes—unlicensed, untraceable, and invisible to law enforcement. 39. Defendant POLYMER80’s illegal conduct thus results in a proliferation of unserialized, untraceable, unlawful ghost guns in the City’s streets and homes, making New York City more dangerous for both the public and for law enforcement, causing a quintessential public nuisance. 40. Federal law prohibits licensed dealers from selling firearms without conducting background checks and from selling handguns to individuals under 21 years old. Contrary to these regulations, upon information and belief, Defendant RYAN, a minor at the time, or his acquaintance was able to purchase and/or obtain a frame, receiver, and/or PF940C 80% frame kit online from Defendant POLYMER80 and/or its network of dealers without a background check or age verification. 41. The kit manufactured and sold by Defendant POLYMER80, contained necessary parts to build a firearm, requiring minimal effort to assemble a fully functioning firearm. Thus, Defendant POLYMER80 effectively provided a 17-year-old with a ghost gun, lacking a background check and serial number. The deadly outcome of POLYMER80's reckless business practices was both tragic and foreseeable. 14 ATF, Final Rule, “Definition of ‘Frame or Receiver’ and Identification of Firearms,” Fed. Reg. Vol. 87. No. 80, 24652, 24656 (April 26, 2022). 13 of 47 FILED: BRONX COUNTY CLERK 03/26/2024 05:07 PM INDEX NO. 804999/2024E NYSCEF DOC. NO. 1 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/26/2024 42. The online sale of ghost gun kits posed a significant risk to the foreseeable Plaintiff. The absence of face-to-face interactions and attempts to verify a buyer's age allows individuals who are too young or legally prohibited from owning firearms to easily obtain them. 43. Indeed, prior to April 8, 2022, Defendant POLYMER80, via its network and dealer affiliates, sold Defendant RYAN, or his criminal acquaintances, a gun-building kit online, along with necessary parts and instructions to quickly assemble a handgun, and shipped it directly to him. Defendant POLYMER80 did not conduct a background check or verify the Defendant RYAN or his acquaintance’s age or legal eligibility to purchase a firearm. 44. On April 8, 2022, Defendant RYAN fired multiple shots from a 9mm pistol, made from a Defendant POLYMER80 PF940C frame, at the intersection of East 156th Street and St. Ann’s Avenue in the Bronx, hitting Angellyh Marie Yambo and two other teenagers. Angellyh succumbed to her bullet wounds. 45. This shooting would not have occurred, and Angellyh would still be alive today, were it not for the negligent, reckless, and unlawful business practices of Defendant POLYMER80. B. Defendant POLYMER80 is largely responsible for the proliferation of ghost guns. 46. Law enforcement statistics show that a large percentage of the ghost guns recovered at crime scenes were assembled from POLYMER80’s products. Of approximately 1,475 ghost guns seized in 2019 and entered into the ATF’s database of ballistic images, over 86% (1,278) of these weapons were assembled from POLYMER80 components. 47. POLYMER80’s shipping records show that Defendant shipped approximately 51,800 items across the United States between January 2019 and October 13, 2020.15 And 15 Affidavit of ATF Special Agent Tolliver Hart, In the Matter of the Search of the business and Federal Firearms Licensee known as POLYMER80, which is located at 134 Lakes Blvd., Dayton, NV 89403, 3:20-mj-123-WGC, ¶79 14 of 47 FILED: BRONX COUNTY CLERK 03/26/2024 05:07 PM INDEX NO. 804999/2024E NYSCEF DOC. NO. 1 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/26/2024 between July 2019 and October 10, 2020, Polymer80 shipped at least 1,490 Buy Build Shoot Kits to consumers in 46 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.16 48. At all relevant times, POLYMER80 sold untraceable firearm kits and components without first conducting background checks—foreseeably resulting in sales to persons who cannot legally purchase a serialized, traceable weapon from a licensed dealer. Moreover, POLYMER80 misleadingly suggested on its website that ATF has concluded that its kits are not firearms, and then illegally ships those kits, which can be readily assembled into fully operational firearms, to consumers in New York. 49. At all relevant times, on POLYMER80’S website, consumers could purchase unfinished lower receivers for rifles or unfinished handgun frames, along with other materials necessary to complete the assembly of a fully functional firearm, including seven or more types of handguns.17 50. At all relevant times, Defendant POLYMER80 manufactured, marketed and sold frame kits for handguns.18 As of March 25, 2024, POLYMER80 was still advertising the sale of these frame kits and lower receiver kits through its website.19 POLYMER80’s pistol frame kits are sold with a “complete finishing jig and drill bits.20” Figure 1, below, is a screenshot of the Defendant POLYMER80’s webpage from the wayback machine21 taken on January 18, 2022, (D. Nev. Dec. 9, 2020). 16 Id. at ¶ 80. 17 “Unfinished” frames and receivers, as that term is used in this Complaint, are the core components of firearms that are solid in certain specified areas—i.e., without drilling or machining in those areas—even though they are designed to be and are readily converted into operable weapons. “Unfinished” frames and receivers are colloquially referred to as “80%,” meaning 80% complete—although that description is not formally recognized by the ATF and misdescribes their completeness). 18 “PF940C 80% Compact Pistol Frame Kit” Polymer80, available at https://polymer80.com/pf940c-80-compact- pistol-frame-kit-gray_2/ (last visited March 25, 2024). 19 Id. 20 Id. 21 The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web that allows the user to go "back in time" to see how websites looked in the past. See https://web.archive.org/web/20220118234539/https://www.polymer80.com/PF940C-80-Compact-Pistol-Frame-Kit- 15 of 47 FILED: BRONX COUNTY CLERK 03/26/2024 05:07 PM INDEX NO. 804999/2024E NYSCEF DOC. NO. 1 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/26/2024 showing a Polymer80 PF940C 80% frame kit for sale - the same pistol frame used by Defendant RYAN to commit the shooting and killing of Angellyh. 51. Finally, POLYMER80 sells other components to enable a customer to assemble a complete handgun, including pistol barrels, slides, and trigger assemblies. 52. Beyond selling these products, POLYMER80 takes it a step further by offering written step-by-step assembly instructions online, accompanied by supplemental videos, to facilitate the manufacture of both pistols and semi-automatic rifles in a matter of a few hours or Black_2 (captured 3/25/2024). 16 of 47 FILED: BRONX COUNTY CLERK 03/26/2024 05:07 PM INDEX NO. 804999/2024E NYSCEF DOC. NO. 1 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/26/2024 less. POLYMER80 even touts its superior customer service that is on standby to assist its customers in manufacturing firearms from its kits and components. “We want to give the customers all the tools they need, as much as we can anyway, to complete this product.”22 53. Defendant POLYMER80, by selling all the component parts together with the means to readily convert the parts into firearms, effectively puts firearms into the hands of customers and subverts regulations that apply to the sale of firearms. 54. Under federal law, a frame or lower receiver is regulated in the same way as a complete firearm. Indeed, federal law defines “firearm” to include a complete (or near complete) gun and the “frame or receiver” of a firearm. Specifically, the Gun Control Act defines “firearm,” in relevant part, as: (A) any weapon … which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive; [or] (B) the frame or receiver of any such weapon. 55. 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(3) (emphasis added). A frame or receiver is accordingly subject to the same serialization and federal background check requirements as a complete firearm. 56. Defendant POLYMER80’s business model is to sell so-called “unfinished” frames or receivers to persons who will assemble them into fully operational firearms, using parts or kits purchased from Defendant POLYMER80, its network of online dealers, or other ghost gun dealers. Defendant POLYMER80 sells frames or receivers that they claim are partly “unfinished,” or “80%” complete, and thereby purport to skirt the statutory definition of a firearm and avoid the application of federal law and regulation altogether. In fact, as sold by Defendant POLYMER80, frames and receivers are “firearms” because they are “designed to or 22 Shooters Nation, 020 Dan McCalmon of Polymer 80, YOUTUBE (Aug. 10, 2018), available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nybZ3iNfUhU. 17 of 47 FILED: BRONX COUNTY CLERK 03/26/2024 05:07 PM INDEX NO. 804999/2024E NYSCEF DOC. NO. 1 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/26/2024 may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive” or are “the frame or receiver of any such weapon.” 57. Independently, “unfinished” frames and receivers and “80% frames” are illegal under local and state law. Legislatures responded to the ghost gun ruse by expressly so specifying. Sales and delivery of “unfinished” frames or receivers into New York City has been illegal under N.Y.C. Admin. Code § 10-314 since February 2020, and under N.Y. Penal Law §§ 265.60-.64 since April 26, 2022. 58. By purporting to sell “unfinished” frames and receivers to consumers without background checks, without serial numbers, and without complying with any other federal, state, and local laws governing firearms, Defendant POLYMER80’s assist and facilitate the evasion of federal, state and local laws banning the sale or possession of “unfinished” frames and receivers. 59. Indeed, evasion of regulation is the core of Defendants’ business model. The appeal of ghost guns is rooted largely, if not entirely, in their purported status as outside the reach of the firearms laws. Defendant Polymer80, the dominant ghost gun manufacturer in the United States, has admitted in court that if its “80%” frames and receivers were deemed firearms under federal law, sales of its products would decline precipitously: “annual revenue would be diminished by more than fifty (50) percent, and perhaps by as much as seventy-five (75) percent.”23 60. It is child’s play to turn an “unfinished” frame or receiver into a “finished” frame or receiver, and then assemble a fully functional gun. Defendants make “finishing” still simpler and quicker by selling the “unfinished” frame or receiver in a kit that includes a template (known 23 See Declaration of David L. Borges in Support of Motion of Polymer80 Inc. to Intervene in this Action, dated Dec. 30, 2020, City of Syracuse, NY v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, 20-cv-6885 (S.D.N.Y.) (ECF # 80). 18 of 47 FILED: BRONX COUNTY CLERK 03/26/2024 05:07 PM INDEX NO. 804999/2024E NYSCEF DOC. NO. 1 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/26/2024 as a “jig”), drill bits, and other hardware. The jig is a molded case into which the “unfinished” frame or receiver fits, with holes labeled for insertion of drill bits, and with directions about the removal of certain polymer tabs. 61. Persons seeking to mass-produce ghost guns can purchase the “Ghost Gunner,” a machine that finishes the frame or receiver still faster and with less work than hand assembly— an especially attractive option for those seeking to traffic ghost guns.24 C. Defendant POLYMER80 violates, circumvents, and assists its customers in violating and evading local, state, and federal gun laws designed to protect public safety. 62. The purpose and the result of the ghost gun business model is the easy acquisition of untraceable, operable firearms without compliance with federal, state, and local laws regulating firearms. Defendants intentionally assist their customers in violating those laws, and themselves violate the state and local laws prohibiting the sale of “unfinished” frames and receivers into New York City and State. The Federal Gun Control Act 63. As previously stated, the 1968 federal Gun Control Act regulates the manufacture, sale, and possession of firearms, including frames and receivers. 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(3). The Gun Control Act requires all commerce in firearms to proceed through federally licensed manufacturers, importers, and dealers, known as federal firearms licensees (“FFLs”), 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(a)(1)(A); 923(a), who in turn must operate in strict conformity with federal, state, and local laws pertaining to firearms. 64. To ensure that all firearms may be traced to the first purchaser, federal law requires licensed manufacturers and importers to inscribe a serial number on the frame or 24 See https://ghostgunner.net/, also available at https://perma.cc/55AU-AEUA; See also https://ny1.com/nyc/all- boroughs/news/2023/09/28/teen-charged-ghost-gun-bust-east-harlem-day-care. 19 of 47 FILED: BRONX COUNTY CLERK 03/26/2024 05:07 PM INDEX NO. 804999/2024E NYSCEF DOC. NO. 1 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/26/2024 receiver of each firearm they manufacture or import.25 65. The holder of a federal firearm license must conduct a background check on any customer who wishes to purchase a firearm, to prevent the acquisition of firearms by people deemed unfit to possess them.26 Indeed, licensed dealers may not sell or transfer a firearm to specified prohibited persons, as determined through a mandatory background check.27 66. To curb gun trafficking or transfers of guns to prohibited persons, federal law prohibits FFLs from shipping firearms to purchasers, and requires all firearm sales be conducted in person except in very limited circumstances requiring, among other things, notice to law enforcement.28 FFLs may not sell or deliver a firearm to any person where the purchase or possession violates any applicable state or local law29, or to persons that do not reside in the state of the dealer’s place of business, except for in-person sales of rifles or shotguns that fully comply with both states’ laws.30 67. Licensed manufacturers and dealers must keep records of all firearm sales, noting the make, model, and serial number of the firearm, as well as the “name, age, and place of residence” of the purchaser.31 FFLs may not sell a firearm without providing the recipient with a secure gun storage or safety device.32 68. On April 26, 2022, ATF published a final rule, effective August 24, 2022, stating that the “unfinished” frame and receiver kits Defendants sell are firearms under the Gun Control Act.33 The Final Rule explains that “a frame or receiver parts kit containing a partially complete 25 18 U.S.C. § 923(i). 26 §922(t)(1). 27 18 U.S.C. § 922(d), (t). 28 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(a)(2), (c). 29 18 U.S.C. § 922(b)(2) 30 18 U.S.C. § 922(b)(3). 31 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(b)(5), 923(g)(1)(A). 32 18 U.S.C. § 922(z). 33 See ATF, Final Rule, “Definition of ‘Frame or Receiver’ and Identification of Firearms,” Fed. Reg. Vol. 87. No. 20 of 47 FILED: BRONX COUNTY CLERK 03/26/2024 05:07 PM INDEX NO. 804999/2024E NYSCEF DOC. NO. 1 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/26/2024 … blank of a frame or receiver that is sold, distributed, or possessed with a compatible jig or template is a frame or receiver, as a person with online instructions and common hand tools may readily complete or assemble the frame or receiver parts to function as a frame or receiver.”34 69. The Final Rule nullifies prior informal ATF guidance, set forth in determination letters to a ghost gun manufacturer, finding that certain examples of “unfinished” “80%” frames or receivers, when considered in isolation, did not constitute firearms under federal law. ATF’s Final Rule is consistent with, and correctly interprets, the federal Gun Control Act.35 New York State Law 70. Since April 26, 2022, New York State law has expressly prohibited the possession, sale, or offering for sale of ghost guns and “unfinished” or unserialized frames or receivers by or to persons in New York State.36 New York City Law 71. Since February 2020, New York City law has prohibited the possession, sale, transfer, or offering for sale of an “unfinished frame or receiver” by or to a person in New York City.37 An “unfinished frame or recei