A video that a black man recorded of himself being denied the purchase of a firearm for no apparent reason took off on social media after he posted it to his Facebook page on Monday, November 6. Now, his account of what happened at the Virginia gun shop that rejected is being picked up by the media, and his call for customers to boycott the establishment is reaching thousands.
According to Chris King Mason of Richmond, he wasn't inside of Hopkins Gun and Tackle, off of the Mechanicsville Turnpike, for very long before he was told that the store wouldn't sell him a gun. So he resorted to taking his phone out to record the rest of his encounter with the owner, Vance Hopkins. In the video, Mason and Hopkins go back and forth, with Hopkins insisting that he doesn't need to provide a reason for why he won't sell Mason the weapon, while Mason prods him for an answer as to why. After Mason accuses the owner of stereotyping, he walks over to a phone to ring the police.
"At first I presumed that he wasn’t serious because I am a regular customer, until he stood by his decision not to sell me anything and ask that I remove myself from the store," Mason wrote of the experience.
He then pushed for his network to spread the word and to support taking action against Hopkins Gun and Tackle, "I will not be racially profiled and be a part of stereotypical injustice, especially where I spend MY MONEY. TO MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS, DO NOT PURCHASE ANYTHING FROM HOPKINS GUN AND TACKLE!! MAKE THIS GO VIRAL! LET’S SEND THEM OUT OF BUSINESS!!!"
Mason's post has received over 16,000 reactions and more than 50,000 shares.
Source: blacksportsonline.com
