RobertNashville

Can a business owner deny service to anybody they chose for any reason they chose? I'd say the only correct answer is, maybe. As I understand it, the FCRA guarantees all people the right to "full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of sex, race, color, religion, or national origin" and, the right of public accommodation is guaranteed to the disabled per the ADA, which precludes discrimination by businesses on the basis of disability. In addition, many states have passed their own Civil Rights Acts that provide broader protections than the Federal Civil Rights Act. To just say, without any equivocation, that a business can deny service to anyone for any reason...as with most blanket statements when words like "all" or "any" are used, it's not true; at least not always true. Perhaps more to the point, while you may deny service to anyone for any reason; it's likely you won't do that for very long or very often without some unpleasant repercussions. With regards to this WalMart; I think, if this woman pushed the issue, she could have WalMart by the short hairs; not because it was a "firearms transaction" but because this clerk didn't seem to think that this "little woman" could handle such a big gun.

I'm not sure that's true; at least not as broadly as you state it. The woman may or may not be telling the truth but I don't "smell" a straw purchase here based on what has been said in the story. Anyway, if the FFL, in this case, WalMart, has a duty to report (which 6.8 AR indicated they do and which I think is correct) then the obvious question that should follow is, did WalMart report the attempted illegal purchase to the BATF and if not, why not??? If they truly thought this was an attempted straw purchase then, required to do so or not, it would seem to me that they at least should report it and if they didn't report it then it's reasonable to wonder why (and, not reporting tends to lend credence to the assumption that this was a stupid and/or overzealous employee; at least in my opinion).

It is a one-sided story but as noted by the author; the store has apparently circled its wagons and isn't talking so if we only have one side it's because of WalMart's decision to make it that way. I don't know what the specific laws say regarding an FFL's liability for selling to someone and it turns out to be a straw purchase; or what their liability would actually be but I would at least hope that there has to be something more substantial than a vague suspicion before the FFL can be held liable.

^ True. We weren't there so maybe my opinion is an overaction (I have an religious objection to WalMart anyway so that may have played a part in my reaction as well ) Maybe this WalMart was entirely right; it's just that my gut tells me that this was some employee either being overly macho in telling a mere woman that she couldn't handle the gun or an employee being very overzealous in protecting the store from facilitating a straw purchase.

So if a stupid WalMart employee thinks I'm too fat to properly shoulder a shotgun it would be reasonable for him to think I was doing a straw purchase? How about if I was "too old"? How about if I were handicapped? Somehow I just don't think that the fact this was a woman purchasing a shotgun equates to a reasonable suspicion that this was a straw purchase situation.

Fired or not fired; this employee will still be stupid so his problem will still remain. More problematic is that whoever is in authority at that WalMart seems to be just as stupid as the employee - if they weren't they would have already apologized and offered to take a good chunk of money off the cost of the shotgun.

Stupidity is one of the many reason why I NEVER shop at WalMart (another reason is that it seems as if a lot of people get shot in WalMart parking lots) Obviously, this was a VERY STUPID employee who, if the manager of that WalMart has any sense at all, will fire quickly and apologize profusely to this woman (although it sounds like the manager of this WalMart may be just as stupid as his employee given their initial reaction of refusing to say anything about the incident). You just can't fix stupid can you.

No, but she would be a good example of what I was referring to!

Well, if you listen to some conservative commentators, there is a segment of the population, both within and without the black community, that want civil unrest. At the very least, there are groups like the Black Panthers who would love nothing better than to see a return to the rioting we had in the '60's. If that is an accurate assessment then BHO losing the election would be a useful excuse to start something. Whether it will happen or not...I don't know...but if I were living in Detroit or Chicago or LA or NYC or a few others that come to mind, I'd be more concerned than I am at the moment.

It's pretty easy, isn't it, to sit at a computer in the richest, freest country in the world and tell people in Pakistan or Syria or Iran what they ought to do and what they are responsible for. I was fortunate to know both of my grandfathers and my father pretty well; my grandfathers both fought in WWI; my father was a tank driver in the U.S. Third Army under Lt. Gen. George Patton in WWII. All three had killed men in battle...I think all three of them had a pretty good understanding of the purpose of war but, I am sure that neither of the three would have extolled the virtue of the wholesale murder of innocent civilians just to "make them bleed". If we are willing to unnecessarily murder innocent civilians just to get a few bad guys then we are no better than the animals that shot this 14 year old girl.

Your examples are hardly an apples to apples comparison. If memory serves, Hamburg and Dresden were bombed by the Brits; not us and that was after Germany had been bombing London's civilians. Nagasaki and Hiroshima were to stop WWII and end the need to invade the Japanese homeland at the cost of far more lives (civilian and military) than were lost in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. If we NEED to kill innocents to get at the bad guys then so be it but with the technology we have today, I see no need to do so. If we think the unnecessary, wholesale murder of innocents just to get a few animals is okay, then pray tell how that makes us any better than the animals who shot the 14 year old Pakistani girl that this thread is about?

A decent country, which I hope we still are, is never going to "lay waste to everything" in a country because it simply isn't rational or moral to kill innocent people (which is what we would be doing under the scenario above. What I'm saying is, as long as terrorists exist we will need to have intelligence operatives on the ground so that when we are attacked, we know WHO to lay waste to. What we don't need are thousands of our troops billeted in these god-forsaken armpits of the world on a continuing basis to try and save them from themselves.

Currently, we have an administration filled with people who have never held a real job and have no clue how the free enterprise system actually works. Moreover, they have an agenda that has no roots in common sense or any other tangible basis and they have to keep one of their primary contingencies happy (i.e. environmental wackos). Given that, is it any wonder that they have found numerous ways to waste my and your money on funding bad "green" business ideas??? There are real "green" technologies out there that can reduce our use of oil and can benefit the environment but right now, the government is in the business of picking winners and losers but they are finding that the "winners" they are picking aren't winning even with lots of government money.

I believe we will be entering a period of great civil unrest regardless of who wins in November although an Obama loss may hasten it a bit. Those who are doing well are doing pretty well and we do have, I believe, significant movement from middle class into the upper middle class and wealthy categories. HOWEVER, we also have a growing sub-class of poor and those totally dependent on the government for their existence...in other words; I don't see much movement from poor classes into the middle class ranks. That observation, if correct, is setting our society up for a huge fall because we are nearing a financial disaster that will make the great depression look very tame. Even if Romney is elected it may be too late to do much to avoid it; if Obama wins re-election all bets are off. Essentially, whether it's because we simply stop spending the money we don't have on these social programs and end them (or greatly scale them back) or we keep the printing presses running putting out worthless money to the point that $10,000 won't buy a loaf of bread; the people currently dependent on the teat of Uncle Sam are going to get nothing but dust where they once got milk and when they do all hell is going to break loose. If you want to know what that looks like, look at what has been going on in Greece (if you can get the actual news)...people who have the financial ability to do so will leave; those who can't leave will be left to fend for themselves and take what they need from whoever they think has it.

Extreme fanatics; most especially those claiming "religion" as the basis for their actions, are the most dangerous and illogical and uncivilized among us. I know we can't do it because there are far more innocent people in Muslim countries than there are terrorists like the Taliban but I can't help but wish we could just drop some nukes on them and be done with it. Of course, even if we did we will never be "done with it"...to paraphrase Golda Meir...Peace will come when the terrorists love their children more than they hate us.

Neat story! My two interactions with secret service have both been positive although not as "personal" as yous. Many years ago Dan Quale was the keynote speaker at a function I helped organize for my company; the advance party were exceptionally professional and great to work with. My other encounter was with two advance team members at Monticello - I was there on July 3 2008; I had come down Skyline Drive after vacationing in DC. GWB had decided to conduct the mass swearing in ceremony they do every year there on July 4th and these two agents were on the tour with us. I also got to stand at the presidential podium GWB would be using the next day.

I was wondering that too! OP - were you taking your time and aiming; point and shoot and/or trying to practice as if if was a "defensive situation"? Whichever, I think your overall accuracy at 10 yards is pretty damn good shooting!

I don't have a pic to post at the moment but the closest I have to a family heirloom firearm is my 1975 Series 70 Colt 1911 Gold Cup National Match - it was the first handgun I ever purchased and will be passing it onto my brother (assuming I pass first) and my nephew if he passes first...hopefully it will stay in the family for many, many years.

I've shared this story before but perhaps it's worth sharing again. I've owned many 1911s and still do...I love them...I used to carry one, however... in the Spring of 2011 I took the two day "Fighting Pistol" course from Tactical Response...by lunch time the first day my very pretty very expensive 1911 that I carried almost exclusively was choking VERY badly...it was having a malfunction with about every other shot. I shifted to a much more expensive 1911 and finished the rest of the first day and all of the second day with no problems. However, shortly after that I started carrying a G31 (or sometimes a G20 or G21). Given that, per FBI stats, most civilian defensive gun fights last three shots and three seconds and 3 yards; most any decent, functioning 1911 including the one that failed me would probably get the job done. After all, my original gun for the course didn't start to fail until after about two solid hours of many, many rounds. But, I decided I could not longer, in good conscious, trust my life to one and shortly after that class, started carrying a Glock (I'm not saying that a Glock is the only alternative but it's the brand I've settled on). I've had a occasional (very occasional) malfunction with a Glock but none of the Glocks I own or have owned have ever given me any qualms about taking them into even a protracted gun battle should I ever unfortunate to have to be in one. Taking that into consideration along with the extract capacity and I doubt I'll ever go back to carrying a 1911 again; at least not very often...I still love my 1911s though!

I watched as much of it live as I could stand...I could only watch a few minutes each time before I had to turn it off. Biden showed himself to be exactly what he is, a rude, condescending, angry, out-of-touch, "my s**t don't stink, aging, empty husk of a liberal politician who epitomizes everything that is wrong with Washington politics. I look at politicians like him and wonder just how incredibly stupid the people are who have been voting for him all these decades. Ryan didn't mop the floor with him last night but anyone who bothered to watch and who are truly on the fence about who to vote for in November got a pretty good picture of who they have to chose from and the differences are pretty stark.

Every time I see one I think about the movie "The Other Guys" and "giant vagina"...however, I haven't shot any of the them; I feel too sorry for the drivers.

Those are upwards of $100K and some have been catching fire haven't they?

Good stuff and makes the important points well! +1

Any of us can get together anytime...it doesn't need to be limited to Williamson county (in fact I live in Rutherford); remember that this was a thread started last year. I think we should be able to find a day we can meet in November whether it's the Nashville Armory or someplace else!

I think I'll wait until the season is over then watch them all from Netflix...it's a habit I got into with "24" and it has spoiled me; I can't hardly watch a series now (especially a drama/action one) on just a weekly basis.