MN's case against Fleet Farm over gun straw purchases to proceed

The state of Minnesota’s lawsuit against Fleet Farm over firearms straw purchasing will proceed to trial despite Fleet Farm’s attempt to dismiss the lawsuit.

According to a news release, Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office prevailed on the issue in federal court, with the judge rejecting a motion for a summary judgement on Oct. 1.

The retailer is accused of selling guns to straw purchasers despite “red flags,” such as multiple purchases of similar guns in a short period of time and large cash purchases of firearms. The lawsuit’s claims against Fleet Farm include negligence, public nuisance and violations of the Minnesota Gun Control Act.

“It is essential that we hold individuals who commit gun violence accountable, and if businesses break the law and contribute to that violence, they must be held accountable as well,” Ellison stated in the release.

“Fleet Farm ignored numerous red flags and sold guns to straw purchasers who then sold those deadly weapons on the black market. [The] ruling means Minnesota will have the opportunity to prove in court that Fleet Farm violated the law and jeopardized the safety of Minnesotans. I look forward to putting this case in front of a jury of 12 Minnesotans, and I will continue to use all the tools at my disposal to improve public safety in Minnesota.”

The court highlighted the circumstances of Fleet Farm’s sales to two straw purchasers, and how one of the guns Fleet Farm sold to Jerome Horton was used in a mass shooting at the Truck Park Bar in St. Paul.

The 2021 shooting left one dead and 14 injured.

In the court order, U.S. District Judge John Tunheim rejected Fleet Farm's series of arguments, recognizing that licensed firearms dealers "are the first line of defense" against straw purchasing, with established federal guidance on straw purchasing red flags.

" ... Cory Klebs, a Fleet Farm manager for the Blaine store, reported his concern that Horton was a straw purchaser to Michelle Granato, one of Fleet Farm’s firearms compliance employees," Tunheim's order states, but Klebs “apparently never heard back” on his concerns.

Fleet Farm’s two firearms compliance employees later provided a company training on suspicious sales activity, using Fleet Farm’s July 2021 sales of guns to Horton as an example of what should raise a red flag.

“The record shows that Horton displayed textbook indicators of straw purchasing — so much so that Fleet Farm later used his transactions as training examples," the opinion stated. "Klebs raised straw purchasing suspicions internally, yet those concerns were disregarded.”

The court also rejected Fleet Farm’s argument that “the State is merely stepping into the shoes” of the individuals harmed in the Truck Park shooting without having “a distinct sovereign interest.”

According to the order, the state’s action directly concerns public safety for Minnesotans at large: “The State challenges 37 separate [firearm sales] over many months, and the majority of the firearms sold in those transactions remain at large. Those unrecovered firearms pose an ongoing public safety threat to Minnesotans as a whole. That threat is neither speculative nor theoretical. Rather, it is supported by longstanding ATF guidance, expert testimony, and common sense.”

Finally, the court rejected Fleet Farm’s arguments that Fleet Farm was not a “proximate cause” of harm resulting from Fleet Farm’s sales of guns to straw buyers.

The court will establish a trial date in the near future.