NEW YORK - More than a dozen out-of-state gun dealers have helped criminals terrorize New Yorkers and now the sellers must face the city in court, a judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein ruled against the shops, which had argued they couldn't be sued in a New York court because they do not do business in the city.

But the judge said the city had demonstrated “with a high degree of probability” that the shops' behavior has been “responsible for the funneling into New York of large quantities of handguns used by local criminals to terrorize significant portions of the city's population.”

That “knowing” conduct brought the out-of-state dealers under New York jurisdiction, he said.

The city has accused the shops named in the lawsuit of allowing so-called “straw purchases” by private investigators. In the city-financed operation, one investigator filled out the paperwork for a gun while making it clear the purchase was for someone else.

Investigators focused on shops that had been linked to hundreds of guns used in New York killings, muggings and other crimes.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the judge's decision a “significant victory” in his ongoing campaign against illegal guns.

“It shows that cities can hold those who cause harm to innocent people and the police who protect us accountable,” he said in a statement.

Telephone calls to representatives for several of the defendants went unanswered Wednesday evening.