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Store refused gun sale because of name, race, Charlotte couple says(NC)
wbtv.com ^ | 25 February, 2012 | Brad Hyatt

Posted on 02/26/2012 5:56:52 AM PST by marktwain

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - A Charlotte couple says Dick's Sporting Goods refused to sell them a gun because of their last name and race.

Bernard and Francine Miller tell us they went to the store on W. T. Harris Boulevard looking for a rifle because they spotted a coyote in their yard.

After forty minutes of shopping and working with the sales agent, they settled on the one that fit their price range. A 22-rifle that cost just over $200.

Bernard was then asked to fill out paperwork. But the couple says after filling out the paperwork, a salesperson refused to sell them the rifle.

"I get ready to hand him the papers back, that's when he come out with a silly grin on his face talking about how he couldn't sell me the rif... how HE wasn't going to sell me the rifle," Miller told WTBV. "HE MADE the decision! He said HE MADE the decision not to sell me a rifle."

-----------------------cut----------------------

We asked the company for a response to this story but they had no comment. But we did hear that audio tape Francine Miller says she recorded in the store.

In it, the manager said this wasn't a prejudiced act, rather, that it's a federal offense to sell someone a gun which they believe is intended for someone else.

(Excerpt) Read more at wbtv.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: North Carolina
KEYWORDS: atf; banglist; nc; straw
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To: Mercat

“Bernard Miller says he was told that’s because another African-American man with the last name Miller, but a different first name, had tried to buy the same gun at a Dick’s Sporting Goods store in Matthews and been denied.”


21 posted on 02/26/2012 6:32:21 AM PST by free me (heartless=no humanity)
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To: marktwain

*If* this couple are as they claim (and I say so reservedly from what I’ve seen), they’ve now painted a huge “I’m trouble” sign on themselves. They’ve shown that they go around anticipating (deliberately?!) trouble. They’ve proven that their idea of dispute resolution is very public displays of emotion-based allegations - including the race card.

I wouldn’t sell them a picture of a firearm, and I doubt anyone else will now, either.


22 posted on 02/26/2012 6:33:52 AM PST by rockrr (Everything is different now...)
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To: marktwain
...that's when he come out with a silly grin on his face...

Looks like the gun stores might have their own means of knowing what was going down and the Millers are "known".
They may be on the "Top Ten" list of people not to sell weapons to.

Recording runs both ways (security cameras) and "shopping around" don't mean what it used ta mean.

23 posted on 02/26/2012 6:34:28 AM PST by philman_36 (Pride breakfasted with plenty, dined with poverty, and supped with infamy. Benjamin Franklin)
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To: Mr. K

Yeah, I wondered about that too. Of course, cell phones have lots of capabilities these daze. Sounds like they only started recording after they got the news they were turned down and started speaking to the manager. It would unquestionably be a setup if they had recorded the whole visit.


24 posted on 02/26/2012 6:34:33 AM PST by rbg81 (scillian's)
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To: SampleMan
That issue was set down in 1776, but clearly not settled.

Obviously. Michigan bar and restaurant owners can't refuse service to non smokers but are required by law to ban smoking in their establishments. Seems to me that non smoking bars would have been doing a booming business if there had been a demand for it.

People seem to be doing a real good job of confusing freedom with restriction.
25 posted on 02/26/2012 6:35:18 AM PST by cripplecreek (What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?)
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To: marktwain

Bernard and Francine Miller What’s so unusual about their name? I see nothing that would lead me to believe their name was a reason for charges of discrimination.


26 posted on 02/26/2012 6:40:17 AM PST by kalee (The offenses we give, we write in the dust; Those we take, we engrave in marble. J Huett 1658)
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To: cripplecreek

But...but...but...that would violate the Civil Righrs Act /s


27 posted on 02/26/2012 6:52:40 AM PST by chesley (Eat what you want, and die like a man. Never trust anyone who hasn't been punched in the face)
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To: School of Rational Thought

I can kill any coyote on Earth with a good .22 rifle loaded with the high velocity ammo, nothing heavier is needed unless you are shooting at long range which is not going to happen when the coyote is in your yard. My older brother once told me that .22LR was too small to use on feral dogs that were roaming the rural area where we grew up but then he killed one of those dogs at at around 100 yards with a .22LR revolver!

The same brother had a medium size dog (about forty pounds) that chased a neighbor’s cattle and got shot with a .270 deer rifle, the bullet passed just beneath the spine at about the last rib. The dog survived and lived for years afterward, the only lasting effect was that it turned from yellow to white haired and stopped chasing cattle.


28 posted on 02/26/2012 6:53:59 AM PST by RipSawyer
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To: marktwain

Here is the reason given, from the article “Bernard Miller says he was told that’s because another African-American man with the last name Miller, but a different first name, had tried to buy the same gun at a Dick’s Sporting Goods store in Matthews and been denied.”

This seems pretty silly in a variety of ways. First of all Miller is a very common name. Secondly if I want to be sneaky and get someone to buy a gun for me am I going to pick somebody with the same last name as mine? I could see if the two men had the exact same name you might well think they were the same guy, but I don’t see why you’d think these 2 have anything to do with each other.


29 posted on 02/26/2012 6:54:50 AM PST by jocon307
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To: marktwain

They wouldn’t sell me a rifle. I’m black. Ergo, they wouldn’t sell me a rifle because I’m black. Perfect, unassailable logic.


30 posted on 02/26/2012 6:55:13 AM PST by Mr Ramsbotham (Laws against sodomy are honored in the breech.)
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To: chesley

The civil rights act violates the rights of all Americans.


31 posted on 02/26/2012 6:55:39 AM PST by cripplecreek (What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?)
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To: rbg81

He probably from Nantucket Island and did not notice their race for the first 40 minutes?


32 posted on 02/26/2012 7:01:02 AM PST by BilLies ( It's Black History Month..Don't forget the 330,000 White Northerners who died 1861-5 to Free Slaves)
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To: free me
So... any black person with the last name of "Miller" can't buy .22 rifles at Dick's Sporting Goods.

Got it.

33 posted on 02/26/2012 7:04:13 AM PST by lwd
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To: ExpatGator

That I didnt know. But it makes sense. If it looks like it is going to blow up on your later, a person would be a idiot to sell a gun if it even has the slightest risk of going south.


34 posted on 02/26/2012 7:04:18 AM PST by Yorlik803 (better to die on your feet than live on your knees.)
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To: cripplecreek
Personally I think any business should be able to refuse service to ANYONE for ANY REASON as long as it doesn't endanger a life.

I whole heartedly agree with that statement.

35 posted on 02/26/2012 7:07:51 AM PST by rightly_dividing (You cannot put a gun rack in a Volt !)
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To: marktwain

What kind of paperwork is necessary to purchase a .22 rifle? Last time I bought one at WalMart (Mississippi), I picked it out and paid for it, then left with it.


36 posted on 02/26/2012 7:08:04 AM PST by trebb ("If a man will not work, he should not eat" From 2 Thes 3)
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To: kalee
Miller What’s so unusual about their name?

Miller us a common AMISH name. ;-)

37 posted on 02/26/2012 7:08:56 AM PST by Right Wing Assault (Dick Obama is more inexperienced now than he was before he was elected.)
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To: Mr. K

If the clerk saw the recording item, he could refuse out of fear of being stuck in jail as several other gun sellers are under Fast and Furious.


38 posted on 02/26/2012 7:09:16 AM PST by tbw2
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To: Vaquero
I find there are a considerable % of gun sales personnel who are obnoxious and overly opinionated....

Yeah, and those are the just the people who post on FR gun threads../sarc

39 posted on 02/26/2012 7:10:28 AM PST by Last Dakotan
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To: cripplecreek
The civil rights act violates the rights of all Americans

worth repeating

40 posted on 02/26/2012 7:13:50 AM PST by chesley (Eat what you want, and die like a man. Never trust anyone who hasn't been punched in the face)
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