Fleet Farm (CBS Minnesota)
ST. PAUL (KFGO) – Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison says the state has resolved its lawsuit against Fleet Farm for negligently selling firearms to straw purchasers.
Straw purchases are made on behalf of a person who is not legally allowed to buy guns.
The consent judgement comes after Fleet Farm tried to dismiss the lawsuit last fall.
Fleet Farm will pay a $1 million penalty and has agreed to take multiple steps in Minnesota stores to improve detection and prevention of possible straw buying.
- A specific list of warning signs of potential straw purchasing that employees must monitor and act upon, based on customers’ purchase history and behavior in store, among other things;
- Improved training for Fleet Farm employees who sell firearms, including regular, unannounced compliance checks to ensure that employees identify and act on warning signs of potential straw buying;
- Software that allows employees to track firearm sales across different Fleet Farm stores and see alerts about suspicious gun buyers;
- Updated discipline policies to ensure that Fleet Farm employees are appropriately disciplined for failing to notice warning signs of straw purchasing; and
- A new trace request monitoring system that alerts employees about sales to persons linked to previously recovered crime guns.
“The warning signs that Fleet Farm ignored were so clear that Fleet Farm themselves went on to use those sales as examples of obvious red flags in internal trainings,” said Ellison “On behalf of the people of Minnesota, we are holding them to account for that callous behavior. Today’s settlement forces the company to significantly change their internal policies to protect the people of Minnesota and imposes a substantial financial penalty on them.”
Fleet Farm was accused of selling a gun to a straw purchaser that was used in a mass shooting at a St. Paul bar in 2021.
Fleet Farm provided the following statement to KFGO news:
“We are pleased to have reached a resolution with the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office on this matter. We condemn gun violence and remain committed to partnering with law enforcement and community leaders to help keep our communities safe.”
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