Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has updated a lawsuit against the Fleet Farm retail chain to include allegations that the retailer violated the state's gun control law by repeatedly selling firearms to "straw purchasers" who funneled the guns to felons barred from owning them.
U.S. Magistrate Judge John Docherty last week allowed the state to amend its original lawsuit, first filed in 2022, to include the new charge after the Minnesota Supreme Court clarified the scope of Ellison's investigation and enforcement authority in a ruling in an unrelated case.
In a memo to the court, Assistant Attorney General Eric Maloney wrote that Fleet Farm violated the Minnesota Gun Control Act "by transferring firearms to straw purchasers Fleet Farm knew or had reason to know were buying firearms for others, because each of the straw buyers falsely represented that they were the actual buyer in connection with each individual sale."
Minnesota is now seeking civil penalties for each violation of the gun control act and the state's public nuisance statute. Penalties can range as high as $25,000 per violation.
Attorneys for Fleet Farm opposed the change and unsuccessfully argued that Ellison is not empowered to civilly enforce a criminal penalty that is unrelated to consumer protection.
In an unrelated case in December, the state Supreme Court clarified that the attorney general can enforce a broad scope of laws concerning "unfair, discriminatory, and other unlawful practices in business, commerce, or trade." Maloney argued that the state's gun control act "regulates the relationship and duties among businesses, their customers and the general public, so as to fall under the umbrella of laws" that Ellison's office can enforce.
"That is precisely what is alleged here by the state: That Fleet Farm had an affirmative obligation to detect and prevent straw purchasers that Fleet Farm violated when it sold at least 37 guns in a 16-month span to persons Fleet Farm knew or should have known were straw purchasers," Maloney wrote.
The new allegations join existing claims that Fleet Farm acted negligently.
Todd Noteboom, an attorney representing Fleet Farm, argued in filings that Ellison has not alleged that a Fleet Farm store ever failed to require a customer to complete federally required paperwork for firearm transactions, nor did it claim Fleet Farm sold any firearms without receiving the go-ahead from the FBI's background check system.
"In fact, plaintiff alleges nothing about Fleet Farm's firearm policies in either the operative complaint or the proposed amended complaint," Noteboom wrote. "Instead, plaintiff contends Fleet Farm should be held civilly liable for unspecified societal harms based on the unforeseeable criminal conduct that purportedly followed from firearm sales to two individuals: Sarah Elwood and Jerome Horton."
Elwood and Horton since have been convicted in federal criminal cases. One firearm bought by Horton was used in an October 2021 mass shooting at the Seventh Street Truck Park bar in St. Paul, leaving one woman dead and more than a dozen people injured.
Noteboom argued that both Elwood and Horton admitted in guilty pleas that they knowingly deceived Fleet Farm when they bought the guns. Noteboom added that personnel with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told Fleet Farm that "in no way did [Fleet Farm] do anything wrong by selling [Horton] the firearms" because "[t]here was nothing in [Horton's] background that would have rendered a denied response" from the FBI's instant criminal background check system.
In a ruling last week, Docherty concluded that Minnesota's new claim was "plausible on its face and does not fall outside the scope of the Minnesota Attorney General's authority." Docherty added that Ellison's authority is not limited only to matters of consumer protection.
Brian Evans, a spokesman for Ellison's office, said that Docherty's ruling "confirms that firearm sellers like Fleet Farm can be held accountable under Minnesota law for unlawful sales to straw purchasers."
Messages were left seeking comment from Fleet Farm's attorneys. The parties are due in court Tuesday for a hearing on a motion from Ellison's office asking that Fleet Farm be compelled to produce evidence including firearms transaction records, internal communications about the lawsuit, and employee evaluations and disciplinary actions about firearms sales.
