Big 5 worst experience ever!

[daydreamin5]

Hell fellow calguners! First let me say that I am posting this under my boyfriends account

Today we both went into a big 5 sporting goods here in southern california. We decided on buying a mossberg 500 combo kit with the 18.5" and 28" barrels. We thought it would be the best beginner shotgun since neither of us owned one. We thought we could use it at the outdoor range and then change the barrel and try it out on trap or skeet shooting. My boyfriend has 6 guns ranging for .22s, to handguns, to ar-15s. and well myself I have none. So while deciding on the shotgun to buy I asked my boyfriend if I could buy it as well as DROS it. I thought it would be a cool feeling to have a gun of my own and well he never had an interest in shotguns anyways. Well anyways during the process the assistant manager of the store decides he does not what to sell me the gun and that he will only sell it to my boyfriend! My heart immediately sunk... I did not understand why he did not what to sell it to me. He pretty much judged me for being a woman and accused me of buying a firearm for my boyfriend. My boyfriend began to DROS process but once he saw how sad I was he canceled it and told me we'll go somewhere else.

Never have I ever felt so discriminated against for being a woman. I'm sorry for venting this but I needed fellow gunners to hear this story and well I know my boyfriend is on this site 24/7. I guess theres nothing else I can do but go somewhere else.. And well call the manager tomorrow, but still I dont think big 5 deserves me as a customer ever again.

[QQQ]

That does sound bad. I assure you that not all places are like that.

[frankiejoe577]

Please list the address of the store

[ElvenSoul]

Wow what idiots!

[Desert_Rat]

Maybe discrimination/maybe not. who knows.
It may have something to do with the fact that there many people who go into these stores and attempt to have the Girlfriend purchase the firearm "For" the boyfriend.

Maybe because She wants one in her name/maybe because he wants the gun, but is prohibited from purchasing for legal reasons.

This is called a Straw purchase and is illegal.

Maybe the Asst Mgr was thinking he was preventing a straw purchase/maybe he was being a jerk. Who knows.

I hope you two find a place to get your shotgun.

[imtheomegaman]

dunno, sounds a lot like he mistook your interaction with your boyfriend and determined that it was a straw purchase and refused to sell to you to protect his job and ffl

[tuna quesadilla]

From the salesman's perspective, what you describe was a textbook straw purchase (read: illegal.) I doubt he was discriminating against you; he just didn't want to do something illegal.

[daydreamin5]

Yes I want to say that he was trying to prevent a straw purchase. However he was not and he allowed us no option to prove it otherwise. I dont see what would have given him the impression that the gun was not for me besides the fact that I am a girl. I probably know more about guns then him! Makes me change my view on how guys look at women who take an interest in guns..

[sephy]

Just another reason why I won't buy from Big 5.

[daydreamin5]

I guess what im trying to say is what gives a store manager the right to decide if a gun is for me or not. All he had to do was ask me personally what my intentions for the gun are. I could have provided him with the exact names of the ranges I go to and the knowledge i have on guns.. I think he just viewed me as a woman who knows nothing about guns and is probably buying this for the guy im standing next to.

[Desert_Rat]

Yes I want to say that he was trying to prevent a straw purchase. However he was not and he allowed us no option to prove it otherwise. I dont see what would have given him the impression that the gun was not for me besides the fact that I am a girl. I probably know more about guns then him! Makes me change my view on how guys look at women who take an interest in guns..

Don't do that over one dipstick.

I did think one time however, that I was going to have to change the way a boy was looking at my daughter at her first Appleseed Shoot. She was hanging onto an AR in .223 and he was rocking a 10/22.

[Us3rName]

discrimination to the max. I would take this up with their superiors.

[Dreaded Claymore]

In CA, they're almost doing a public service still selling guns at all!

This. Target and Wal-Mart won't sell shotguns here, which is a shame.

Your experience really sucks. From the Big 5 guy's point of view he probably thought he was preventing a straw purchase, but I bet it made you super mad. I know I would have been mad.

[email]

Oh, can I buy this one? Please honey?

......

Then he cancels the DROS....


this reeks of straw.

[FastFinger]

I bought a shotgun from B5 - and they really went out of the way to accommodate me (found in other region - had it transferred to local store etc.), so I don't want to bad mouth them. With that in mind I'll be generous and assume the clerk was trying to avoid a straw man purchase. Even if that is the case - it sounds to me like he was way out of line. It's unfortunate that the law places the clerk in the awkward position to make that judgment, and that this couple needed to suffer because of it.