Fleet Farm settles suit over straw‑purchase gun sales

Minnesota’s 2022 civil lawsuit against Fleet Farm has ended in a $1 million settlement and a commitment by the retailer to make “significant changes” to its gun‑sales practices after federal Judge John Tunheim ruled the case could proceed despite the industry’s usual federal immunity. Evidence reviewed by FOX 9 ties at least 46 firearms sold by Minnesota Fleet Farm stores to known straw buyers, with eight of those guns later recovered at Twin Cities crime scenes — from Minneapolis street arrests and a six‑year‑old finding a loaded handgun to the 2021 Truck Park Bar mass shooting in St. Paul. Tunheim warned in a September order that the dozens of yet‑unrecovered Fleet Farm guns “pose an ongoing public safety threat to Minnesotans,” undercutting the company’s claim that the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) barred the lawsuit entirely. Legal experts say the ruling and settlement show how state consumer‑protection and negligence laws can still be used against gun sellers that ignore clear red flags in high‑volume purchases, even with PLCAA on the books. For Minneapolis–St. Paul residents living with routine gunfire, the case sets a concrete precedent for holding retailers accountable when their sales patterns are feeding the local illegal market, not just blaming trigger‑pullers after the fact.