Big 5 store manager quits after being forced to sell a gun to man she found threatening

[n2doc]

Matt Hamilton


He was a customer who wanted to buy a gun. She was a store manager who balked, finding the man erratic, threatening and potentially dangerous.

Their tense interaction at a Big 5 Sporting Goods store in Downey prompted police to step in.

After company officials overruled her and released a weapon to the customer, Delilah Rios resigned. In a lawsuit filed this week, she alleged wrongful termination and violation of labor laws, among other claims.

“She feared for her safety and felt that money meant more to Big 5 Corporation than public safety or employee safety,” according to the lawsuit. “She felt she could not work at a company where she would be forced to release firearms to people who should not have guns.”

more
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-lawsuit-big-five-20170207-story.html

[Ilsa]

1. Good. This needs to be brought into the discussion.

If she had been a pawn shop owner who had sold him a weapon, which the buyer used on a killing spree, she would have been targeted for irresponsibly selling a gun to a madmad for a little more profit. As an employee, she's in trouble for exercising judgment.

[billh58]

2. This is a perfect example

of why a reasonable waiting period should be required for all gun purchases. If a waiting period were in place, then there wouldn't have been a confrontation, the manager would not have been placed in the position of making an instant decision, and the customer would have had no expectation of an instant purchase.

In Hawaii for instance, a permit is required to purchase a gun and there is a 14-20 day waiting period to acquire the permit. Works just fine. Additionally, all guns must be registered.

[sl8]

4. According to to the article quoted in the OP, this occurred after the mandatory waiting period.

Did I miss something?

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-lawsuit-big-five-20170207-story.html

...
After the mandatory 10-day waiting period elapsed, he came to the store on the night of Feb. 4, 2015, but Rios said the store was busy — she was working at the cash register for an employee on break — and that she did not have enough time to release the firearm.

“I paid for it, and you need to give me my [expletive] gun,” he said, according to the lawsuit. He left after she threatened to call police.
...
/div]

[billh58]

5. My bad, and you are correct.

In this case even with a waiting period an asshole was still allowed to buy a gun. Hooray.

[cloudbase]

3. If she resigned,

then I would think the wrongful termination suit is without merit.

(not an attorney, didn't stay at Holiday Inn last night)