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State alleges Fleet Farm illegally sold guns to straw purchasers
Attorney General Keith Ellison’s suit said many of the alleged straw purchases were later discovered to be involved with various crimes.
ST PAUL, Minn. — Editor’s note: The video above first aired on KARE 11 in October 2022.
An amended lawsuit first filed in 2022 accuses a popular Midwestern sports and outdoor retailer of negligence after it revealed the company sold firearms to alleged straw purchasers over a 16-month period. A judge last week approved the prosecution’s request that further actions be taken by the company to “remedy the harm” it allegedly caused.
According to the documents amended in district court on March 5, 2024, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is asking for relief on behalf of the state in the form of civil penalties and costs and fees associated with the initial October 2022 claim that Fleet Farm, LLC, aided and abetted in violating Minnesota’s firearm laws and regulations by selling guns to straw buyers.
Straw buying describes the act of obtaining firearms from licensed sellers with the intention to sell/provide them to those who can’t acquire them legally.
Ellison said in the suit that many of the alleged straw purchases were later discovered to be involved with various crimes. Prosecutors called the company “careless” in the lawsuit, claiming it “knew or consciously avoided knowing that these individuals were straw purchasing firearms.”
Fleet Farm, a limited liability company based in Appleton, Wisconsin, has 14 stores located in Minnesota that are licensed to sell firearms. Each location is required to adhere to the federal Gun Control Act of 1968, as well as Minnesota’s Gun Control Act, in an effort to prohibit gun dealers and manufacturers from selling firearms to known traffickers and straw purchasers.
Under these rules, distributors are required to conduct background checks, verify the purchasers’ identification, record each transaction and present them with a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) form that asks the buyer to confirm they’re making the purchase for themselves.
After an ATF audit, prosecutors claim in the lawsuit that Fleet Farm “failed to meet its duties,” by ignoring “blatant warning signs of straw purchasing,” including, “multiple purchases of similar handguns (especially 9mm caliber); buying sprees over concentrated periods of time; and staggered visits to different Fleet Farm locations to elude multiple-sale reporting requirements.”
Further, they accuse Fleet Farm of profiting off the guns’ unlawful sales.
One ATF finding showed Fleet Farm sold two dozen firearms to a man accused of making straw purchases in 2021 despite the aforementioned warning signs and an agent’s court testament to the man’s “suspicious” buying behavior. Prosecutors claim that although Fleet Farm then became aware of the ATF’s concerns about the purchaser, the company continued to sell him guns.
The lawsuit goes on to say the man sold the firearms to third parties who “caused harm to Minnesotans,” going on to discover those exact firearms had been used in various gun-related crimes — including St. Paul’s October 2021 fatal shooting incident at Seventh Street Truck Park.
Ellison’s lawsuit seeks corrective measures by Fleet Farm to “abate the public nuisance” they’ve created and “prevent future misconduct” by, ordering the company to submit to sales and records supervision by a court-appointed monitor; require employees involved to undergo a court-approved training about the legal sale of firearms; and paying civil penalties to “remedy harm and injury,” as well as covering state fees associated with the case.
According to ATF data, 4,605 firearms recovered in Minnesota were traced by the ATF to their first retail seller in 2021, showing an upward trend of gun crimes in the state. The data also shows 4,072 firearms were traced in 2020 and 4,112 firearms were traced in 2019.
KARE 11 reached out to Fleet Farm in 2022 about the allegations, in which they sent a written response that said:
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.
KARE 11 reached out to Fleet Farm representatives again on Monday for comment and will update this story with more information as it becomes available.
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The chief was discussing the shooting of Davis Maturi, who for months had been contact with the MPD about escalating harassment from his neighbor, John Sawchak.
MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said his department “failed” after a man was shot, allegedly by his neighbor in the city.
“We failed this victim. 100%, because that should not have happened to him,” said O’Hara in a Sunday evening press conference.
The chief was discussing the shooting of Davis Moturi, who for months had been contact with the MPD about escalating harassment from his neighbor, John Sawchak.
Sawchak was charged with shooting Moturi as he was pruning a tree on his front yard on Oct. 23.
Moturi remains hospitalized with a fractured spine, two broken ribs, and a concussion.
O’Hara and the MPD came under a heavy attack from the Minneapolis City Council after it was revealed that the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office had charged Sawchak, but the MPD had not arrested him.
“MPD still has not arrested the suspect despite charges from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office for Attempted Murder, 1st Degree Assault, Stalking, and Harassment and a request from the HCAO for a warrant with $1 million bail. MPD told the HCAO they do not intend to execute the warrant ‘for reasons of officer safety,’” said the letter from the Minneapolis City Council.
“We failed to act urgently enough,” said O’Hara, before citing staffing concerns as a contributing factor.
It was a stark difference from the tone the chief initially took on Friday, then saying “If we wound up in a deadly situation, the headlines would read ‘MPD shot mentally ill person’.”
On Sunday, O’Hara said his previous comments were meant as a response to accusations that the MPD “didn’t care,” about the case.
“This is the result of over-politicizing policing in Minneapolis,” said O’Hara.
O’Hara stated that the MPD will, for the moment, continue waiting for Sawchak to exit his home to arrest him, but the chief added “We are running out of options before we have to escalate the matter.”
The heated back-and-forth between the city council and the chief continued earlier Sunday when Minneapolis City Council member Emily Koski released a statement questioning O’Hara and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey actions in the matter.
“Our Chief of Police is hiding behind excuses, and our Mayor…is just hiding.” said Koski in the statement.
