Walmart
Does Walmart have the right to deny the sale?
We have a serious problem in Milwaukee WI with the only remaining gun dealer in the city. Actually, they are on the edge of the city. It seems that a large number of guns recovered at crime scenes, including the shootings of city police officers, came from them (Badger Arms) through straw sales.
The fascist multi-millionaire mayor and his anti-civil libertarian sycophants want more redundant laws to, they say, prosecute the straw buyers/sellers. Since nearly ALL of them skate on the extant federal felony, it should be obvious the goal is not to prosecute them under state law.
How does this relate to your experience at Walmart? I have been in Badger Guns when someone was trying to buy a gun. In all cases they were black people. Because of the city harassment (the cops lurk nearby and if anyone leaves Badger with a parcel on the front seat, they get stopped and searched) of customers, the staff forcefully grills prospective buyers about the sale. What I don't understand is why a civil rights organization hasn't sued Badger for discrimination.
Imagine if you (and especially if you were black) went into a car dealer and they grilled you at length on whether you were going to use the car for robbing banks, abducting children, running red lights, etc. Would you stay there and buy a car after that?
One day I observed a grilling of a black couple at the counter and saw the owner or manager go into the office and make a call. Turned out he had called the BATFE to say he thought he might have a straw purchase going on. He asked them what he should do. They, like the Milwaukee PD, said "Make the sale." That way, they explained, they could at least trace the gun.
And that, of course, means "trace it to Badger." The mayor and the PD chief don't tell us that.
So, can Walmart way "No?" Yep. Most businesses have a policy, sometimes posted, along the lines of "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone." When used against black people, these policies were defeated only by extensive law suits.
My question to you is Why did you go back? I will never ever buy any firearms or related equipment from Walmart because here in Wisconsin they sponsor those hideous "buy back" schemes. In my home town they did that and a local gun club set up a station just outside their parking lot (the store got the cops to shoe them off the premises). It apparently did discourage some people from giving up their guns to the sham, but I scratched Walmart off my shopping list.
Some years before that I went in there to buy ammo - .22LR - to take my sons to the range. The nearest gun store is 12 miles the other direction and I wanted to save time. The woman behind the counter berated me for exposing my children to such a thing. I slammed the ammo down on the counter and demanded to see the manager. She apologized and offered to make the sale. I said "No" and drove the 12 miles.
I don't boycott Walmart, they do offer too many things at attractive prices, but not firearms or related equipment. Not camping or backpacking either, just because.
-Backpacker 33