Attorneys general in Washington, DC, and Maryland are suing three firearms dealers in Maryland, accusing the stores of knowingly selling dozens of guns to straw purchasers who illegally re-sold the weapons to criminals in DC and its surrounding Maryland suburbs.
In one case, the three stores located in Montgomery County — Engage Armament, United Gun Shop and Atlantic Guns — sold 34 guns in a six-month period to a Maryland resident named Demetrius Minor who then transferred the firearms to a convicted felon with a lengthy criminal history, according to the lawsuit. Minor was convicted for the purchases, the lawsuit says.
Nine of those guns have been recovered at crime scenes in the DC area. The rest, officials say, are most likely still on the street.
“There was no plausible lawful explanation for Mr. Minor’s excessive handgun purchases over such a short period,” the civil lawsuit reads. “He was obviously engaged in illegal straw purchasing—but the Defendants did not care. They kept taking his money and selling him more guns, putting the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area at risk.”
— Gabe Cohen in DC’s streets are flooded with illegal firearms. Officials are suing three gun shops they say are a big part of the problem
Or… the alternate title… “Gun stores accused of not knowing how to read minds.”
““There was no plausible lawful explanation for Mr. Minor’s excessive handgun purchases over such a short period,” the civil lawsuit reads. “He was obviously engaged in illegal straw purchasing”
Huh? There’s a limit some place in the Second Amendment?
I’m not trying defend a straw purchase, a crime, but these are stupid arguments. If I buy 10 guns today, it doesn’t mean I’m “obviously engaged in illegal straw purchasing”
There is a plausible ‘lawful explanation’ for buying multiple guns in a short period of time, its called the Constitution which is the supreme law of the land and it doesn’t place any limit or time periods on purchases/procurement of anything at all for individuals. I’ve done it, bought multiple guns in a short period of time, and I still have them and it was for a fact lawful to do so and in no way meant I was “engaged in illegal straw purchasing”. In fact, it is so lawful that if the ATF comes a knocking wanting to see them you can tell them to pound sand and not show them anything if they don’t have a warrant that they can’t get because its not illegal to buy multiple guns in a short period of time.
The arguments just sound stupid.
There has got to be more to it than this. If this is the only basis they may be doomed to fail.
Did Mr. Minor receive the required 340 year sentence (10 years per gun) according to federal law for making these straw purchases or did he receive a slap on the wrist sentence for cooperating with authorities?
If straw purchaser’s thought they may go to jail for the rest of their life it may dissuade them from doing it.
Gives more info…
Gun Shops Nationally THREATENED By Gun Controllers Who Turned Blue States Into Lawsuit Factories…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DemKHdOca1o