ST PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has filed a lawsuit against Fleet Farm for alleged negligence in selling firearms to "straw purchasers," a phrase that refers to situations where someone illegally purchases a gun from someone else.
The AG’s office said guns sold by Fleet Farm to one straw purchaser were used in the Seventh Street Truck Park bar shooting in St. Paul, which left 27-year-old Marquisha Wiley dead and 14 bystanders injured.
Ellison's office identified the buyer in that case as Jerome Horton. Back in Oct. 2021, Horton was charged with making false statements during the purchase of a firearm in connection to the shooting, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
On Wednesday, Gabriel Lee Young-Duncan was sentenced to 40 months in prison for his role in the conspiracy to purchase the gun illegally. According to the criminal complaint, Young-Duncan worked with a co-conspirator to make false statements to Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) throughout the Twin Cities in an effort to purchase dozens of guns illegally.
“Gun dealers and retailers have a duty to be the first line of defense against people who try to illegally obtain guns and provide them directly to criminals or blindly resell them for profit on the black market. But instead of fulfilling their legal obligation to detect and prevent straw purchases, Fleet Farm ignored multiple red flags: they took money from straw purchasers and looked the other way. They put their own profit over Minnesotans’ safety,” said Ellison in a release.
Fleet Farm allegedly sold 37 firearms to two straw purchasers over the course of 16 months and ignored red flags and warning signs that certain buyers were straw purchasers, according to the lawsuit. In another instance, one of the guns Fleet Farm sold to the straw buyer was found by a 6-year-old boy in front of his house.
Ellison's office is asking for injunctive relief, which includes strengthened oversight of Fleet Farm's operations and increased training to prevent the sale of guns to straw buyers. The lawsuit is also seeking monetary relief, including disgorgement of Fleet Farm's profits from sales to straw purchasers.
“While law enforcement investigates and solves crime and local prosecutors prosecute crime, we all have a role to play in stopping gun trafficking and creating safer communities. For the first time in Minnesota, I’m using the power of the Attorney General’s office to hold a gun retailer accountable using the tools of a civil lawsuit," added Ellison.
A spokesperson for Fleet Farm released the following statement:
We strongly disagree with the Attorney General’s lawsuit. We comply with all applicable gun laws and devote substantial resources to training and compliance. It is disappointing that Attorney General Ellison filed his complaint without ever once talking to us.
It’s also worth noting that at the time of the tragic shooting in Saint Paul described in the Attorney General’s complaint, we were told by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms that our team members had “done nothing wrong” and had complied with all applicable gun laws.
We are confident that we will prevail in this matter.
Appleton, Wisconsin-based Fleet Farm operates 17 locations in Minnesota.
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