According to the lawsuit, Engage, United, and Atlantic failed to prevent illegal purchasing despite being aware of common indicators such as bulk purchases and frequent buying over a short period.
Attorney General Anthony G. Brown, District of Columbia Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb, and Everytown Law have filed a lawsuit against three federally licensed gun dealers for their alleged involvement in illegal firearm sales. The lawsuit targets Engage Armament, LLC, United Gun Shop, and Atlantic Guns, all based in Montgomery County, Maryland, for their role in selling firearms to a straw purchaser, Demetrius Minor, who trafficked these weapons predominantly into Washington, D.C.
The legal action claims that these dealers ignored evident signs of illegal straw purchases by Minor. Over a seven-month period, Minor allegedly acquired 34 semiautomatic pistols from the dealers, violating both state and federal regulations designed to prevent such transactions. Minor faced federal gun trafficking charges in D.C. in December 2022. Despite this, the lawsuit asserts that the three gun dealers, who are supposed to act as a critical barrier against illegal firearm sales, have not yet been held accountable for their part in the trafficking scheme and its contribution to regional gun violence.
“Federally licensed gun dealers know the law and they know what to look for to spot possible illegal trafficking. As this lawsuit demonstrates, gun dealers cannot just choose to ignore these warning signs and guardrails,” said Attorney General Anthony Brown.
“As alleged in our complaint, Engage, United, and Atlantic have fueled local gun violence and put the safety of countless individuals on the line by diverting guns into the illegal secondary market through obvious straw purchases,” said Eric Tirschwell, Executive Director of Everytown Law. “This lawsuit puts any other bad-faith dealers who prioritize profits over the law and public safety on notice: traffickers and straw purchasers will be held accountable, but so too will the gun stores that ignore suspicious purchasing behaviors and facilitate the flow of illegal weapons into our cities and local communities.”
The lawsuit had been filed against three Maryland gun dealers—Engage Armament, LLC, United Gun Shop, and Atlantic Guns—accusing them of facilitating illegal straw sales of firearms. In a straw sale, a federally licensed firearm dealer sells a gun to a buyer, known as a straw purchaser, who is actually buying the weapon for someone else who is legally prohibited from owning firearms. This illegal practice allows the actual buyer to avoid background checks and identification requirements while enabling the dealer to profit from a sale that would otherwise be unlawful.
According to the lawsuit, Engage, United, and Atlantic failed to prevent illegal purchasing despite being aware of common indicators such as bulk purchases and frequent buying over a short period. Between April 6 and October 5, 2021, these dealers allowed Demetrius Minor to acquire numerous firearms, including multiple easily concealable pistols, which he then transferred to others prohibited from buying guns.
The lawsuit highlights that these unlawful transactions have contributed to gun violence in Maryland and Washington, D.C. At least nine of the firearms purchased by Minor have been linked to crime scenes across the region, including weapons recovered by police from various suspects and crime scenes.
For instance, one gun was found in a hotel room in D.C. in November 2022, another was seized from a stabbing suspect’s residence in May 2022, and a third was recovered from a criminal defendant’s home in July 2022. Many of the other guns remain missing.
The lawsuit alleges that Engage, United, and Atlantic ignored clear signs of straw purchasing, thus violating the law by facilitating illegal gun sales and conspiring with Minor’s illicit activities. Both the District of Columbia and Maryland are seeking to compel the three-gun dealers to cease their illegal practices and to obtain damages for the harm caused by their actions.
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