WASHINGTON (AP) — Three gun shops that sold nearly three dozen firearms to a man who trafficked the weapons in and around Washington, D.C., are facing a new lawsuit jointly filed Tuesday by attorneys general for Maryland and the nation’s capital.
At least nine of those guns have now been found at crime scene and or with people wanted on warrants for violent offenses, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb said. Many of the others are still unaccounted for.
“Our city is being flooded with illegal weapons,” he said. “All three of these stores ignored the red flags.”
The stores are accused of failing to respond to warning signs that the guns would be sold to other people, including bulk purchasing and repetitive purchases, known as straw purchasing, according to the lawsuit filed with the gun safety group Everytown Law.
“Many of us watch the news and we wonder where all these guns are coming from,” said Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown. “Now we have part of the answer.”
The lawsuit is the first to be filed jointly and comes after other civil suits against gun shops filed around the country, including New Jersey, Minnesota, Chicago and Philadelphia. Kansas City also settled a suit last year against a gun dealer accused of ignoring evidence that guns were being sold illegally.