Posted on 10/06/2022 12:29:17 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced Wednesday he is suing Fleet Farm for selling guns to straw buyers.
The lawsuit alleges Fleet Farm sold at least 37 guns to straw purchasers, a person purchasing a gun for an individual not allowed to own one, over the course of 16 months. In a span of four months in 2021, Ellison alleges Fleet Farm sold 24 guns to the same straw purchaser, Jerome Horton, who was charged in federal court last year.
Ellison says one of the guns traced to a sale at Fleet Farm was used in the October 2021 shooting at Seventh Street Truck Park, a bar in St. Paul, that killed Marquisha Wiley and injured 14 others. Another one was found at the scene of a September 2021 shooting that killed a 6-year-old boy outside his house in Minneapolis.
"It’s my job to help protect Minnesotans’ safety, pocketbooks, and dignity — and you can’t have a real a real conversation about public safety in Minnesota unless you’re talking about the proliferation of guns," Attorney General Ellison said in a release. "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."
The lawsuit alleges Fleet Farm ignored red flags that the buyers were straw purchases. The suit is asking for more oversight of Fleet Farm’s operation and more training for employees to help prevent further sales to straw buyers, among other things.
Fleet Farm responds to Ellison's lawsuit
Fleet Farm issued a statement to FOX 9 on Wednesday, saying the company disagrees with the lawsuit, and it complies with all applicable gun laws.
Here's the full 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."
Why doesn't he investigate whether borderline Minnesota criminals drove to WI to buy a gun legally, then sell it for profit?
Being on the edge of a criminal enterprise and having the ability to buy a gun legally for future profit must be like GOLD to some of these cretins.
PING-A-LING!
Democrat accuser?
We KNOW he’s lying, has no morals, and is completely untrustworthy.
The little creep is trying to shut down the FF sporting goods branch in their stores.
The only time the left “cares” about the victims is when they can use it for leverage to take away our rights.
Sooty, but the FFL can only request the background check forms be completed. They are allowed to not sell a firearm if they suspect shenanigans. However, I know a few folks who buy at least one gun a month, if not more. And they are more than legally able to do so. And, if the guy used different times of the day and different sales staff, they may not recognize he’d purchased multiple guns in that time period.
Vote buying.
October surprise.
“sold at least 37 guns to straw purchasers”
Translation: they legally sold firearms to people who are legally allowed to purchase them.
The “straw buyers” is a “straw man” argument.
the stores sold legal goods to buyers LEGALLY. They were not prohibited persons. They would have gone through a check to buy and receive their guns.
What those buyers did AFTER they legally bought them is NOT the dealer’s fault.
If the “straw buyer” turned around and sold THEIR property to a prohibited individual, that is on them. And they should be prosecuted.
FKE
Keith is trying to pull the headlines from his complete failure and connection to the 250 million dollar scam he and his buddies pulled. Its so bad that the FBI cut some agents loose from the trump investigations to go after them.
“and you can’t have a real a real conversation about public safety in Minnesota unless you’re talking about the proliferation of guns,” Attorney General Ellison said in a release.”
“...But instead of fulfilling their legal obligation to detect and prevent straw purchases....”
Hey Ellison, just exactly how would you do that?
Fleet Farm? Really? You better have some absolutely rock solid evidence that FF has been engaging in conspiracy to traffic guns, because I’m hard pressed to believe this company was knowingly and actively doing this.
I can believe that there could be an individual sales rep or two at a store lining their pockets doing things improper, but as a corporation, knowingly flaunting and disobeying laws and gun trafficking? Definitely skeptical of this.
Fleet Farm is in an unwinnable position. Had they “profiled” the activity of Jerome Horton, Ellison would be making a case for the racial discrimination of Horton.
EC
My team blue family members say that all the guns used in crime in big cities is bought at gun shows in small towns.
I keep asking them if they have been to a gun show lately.
Doesn’t matter.
They all support drug legalization though
What duty? To be mind readers? If the customer passes NICS then they have performed their duty under the law. What the customer does after that is not their problem.
It’s going to be real interesting to see how Horton answered his 4473. If he said he was the purchases, then that’s that.
What he does with them after he leaves the store is on him.
“...the stores sold legal goods to buyers LEGALLY. They were not prohibited persons. They would have gone through a check to buy and receive their guns.
What those buyers did AFTER they legally bought them is NOT the dealer’s fault.
If the “straw buyer” turned around and sold THEIR property to a prohibited individual, that is on them...” [uranium penguin, post 9]
If a prospective buyer presents valid, verifiable ID and NICS issues a “proceed,” the dealership has no further responsibility and prosecutors have no case. Dealers are free to decline a sale if the transaction does not seem right.
Federal agencies and many state/local officials have for decades tried to nail licensed dealers suspected of trafficking guns to prohibited persons outside legally permitted channels. It’s absurd to think that a retail dealer would endanger their reputation and their very livelihood - their existence - by conducting illegal sales. Especially in recent years, as sales have climbed dramatically.
Officials cannot seem to accept the reality that the number of guns that might actually find their way into illicit trade this way is insignificant - compared to the tens of millions sold in compliance with law.
“Thirty-seven guns” sounds alarming to an average citizen, but it’s nothing compared to a single theft from a gun store, or robberies perpetrated against numerous private households, or staged against factory warehouses - or armories of official agencies and their contractors. And then there are guns smuggled in from other nations - quite a few of which could never be legally sold here anyway.
Ellison might be more believable if he could lie without moving his lips ... his lips moving are a dead give away.
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