Maryland, DC suing gun shops accused of selling to buyers involved in interstate gun trafficking

By Kate Amara

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    WASHINGTON, DC (WBAL) — Maryland and Washington, D.C., are suing three Rockville gun shops for their alleged roles in fueling a gun-trafficking scheme through straw selling and buying.

Attorneys General Anthony Brown, of Maryland, and Brian Schwalb, of Washington, and the nonprofit Everytown Law were joined Tuesday morning for a news conference by law enforcement who are joining forces to address illegal interstate gun trafficking.

The officials said the first-of-its-kind civil action filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court stems from a firearms-trafficking investigation in the summer of 2021 in which Demetrius Minor, of Maryland, was indicted on trafficking firearms. He was prosecuted in D.C. on federal gun trafficking charges in December 2022.

The lawsuit alleges that Engage Armament, United Gun Shop and Atlantic Guns ignored clear warning signs that Demetrius Minor was engaging in illegal straw purchases by selling him 34 semiautomatic pistols over a seven-month period, in violation of state and federal laws.

“Clearly, these stores played a role in supplying firearms used in crimes across our region,” Brown said.

“The defendants repeatedly sold numerous similar handguns to a single straw purchaser in a short period of time, sometimes multiple guns on the same day,” said Eric Tirschwell, the executive director of Everytown Law.

Schwalb explained straw selling and buying as “where one person buys guns with the intent of trafficking them, selling or transferring them to other people who are legally prohibited from having them.”

The attorneys general said Engage is accused of selling 25 guns in five months, including eight guns in two weeks; United is accused of selling five guns in eight weeks; and Atlantic is accused of selling four guns in a month, all in 2021.

Brown said the case shows a commitment to holding gun dealers accountable.

“This case sends a clear message to those who disregard the law (that) we’ll go wherever necessary to hold you accountable for putting our communities at risk,” Brown said. “Many of us watch the news and wonder, ‘Where are all these guns coming from?’ Well, today, we have part of the answer, and we’re taking serious action.”

The attorneys general also said the illegally trafficked guns sold by the Maryland stores directly contributed to gun violence across the D.C. region, but that many of the guns are unaccounted for.

“A report from my office identified these stores as the top three retailers of crime guns recovered in Maryland from August 2020 to July 2021,” Brown said.

The plaintiffs called gun violence a regional problem and said strong gun statutes don’t matter if gun dealers flout the law. The lawsuit seeks to hold the stores accountable, as well as seeks remedies that include injunctive relief and financial penalties.

“We need to not only put a stop to their illegal conduct, but we’re going to hit them where it hurts them most, in their wallets,” Schwalb said.

“Today is the beginning of these stores incurring those consequences,” Tirschwell said. “If you are putting the safety of the public at risk, if you turn a blind eye to illegal purchases, if you are helping to fuel gun trafficking, you will have to answer for your actions in court.”

Brown made sure to point out that the civil action filed Tuesday does not infringe on the Second Amendment or, as he said, the rights of law-abiding citizens to lawfully purchase firearms.

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