DC, Maryland AGs sue gun shops for allegedly facilitating illegal gun trafficking into nation’s capital

WASHINGTON - District of Columbia Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb and Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown have filed a lawsuit against three Maryland gun dealers for allegedly facilitating illegal gun trafficking into the District. 

The suit claims that Engage Armament, LLC, United Gun Shop, and Atlantic Guns, Inc., all based in Montgomery County, Maryland, sold 34 semiautomatic pistols to a purchaser, Demetrius Minor, over a seven-month period, despite what Schwalb’s office says were clear warning signs of illegal activity.

The lawsuit maintains that the gun dealers ignored red flags indicating that Minor was buying firearms with the intent to transfer them to individuals not legally permitted to possess them. This conduct, the suit alleges, violates District, Maryland, and federal laws.

Minor was prosecuted in December 2022 on federal gun trafficking charges in the District. However, the three gun dealers, described by Schwalb’s office as the "first line of defense against straw purchasing," have not faced any charges.

"The level of gun violence in the District, and the devastating impact it has on victims, families, and our community as a whole, is unacceptable," said Schwalb in a statement. "This is a regional problem that requires a regional solution, as far too often, guns purchased in Maryland and Virginia are trafficked across our borders and end up at crime scenes in DC. Today we are holding these firearms dealers—businesses that chose profits over safety—accountable for their clear negligence, blatant disregard for the law, and pain they have inflicted across the District and DMV.  My office will continue to do everything in our power to combat the deadly flood of illegal weapons into the District."

Straw purchases occur when a licensed gun dealer sells a firearm to a buyer who is actually purchasing it for someone else, often someone prohibited from buying guns. These transactions enable the true buyer to bypass legal restrictions that are required to legally buy a gun.