KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KMOX) - A prominent Muslim civil rights organization has filed a lawsuit against a firearms store in Missouri for refusing to let a Muslim woman use its gun range unless she removed her hijab.
The federal lawsuit claims Rania Barakat and her husband waited in line for an hour to use the range at Frontier Justice in Jackson County, Missouri. While in line, she was wearing her hijab, a Islamic head scarf, but then asked to remove it due to the business' policy, the complaint states. The range banned headgear, with the exception of front-facing baseball caps.
The couple assured the manager they been to several other shooting ranges and had no problems with the hijab. The managed explained that shrapnel could cause the hijab and skin to burn.
After an argument, the lawsuit states the manager became "aggressive and loud."
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) – the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization – and Baldwin & Vernon Law filed a complaint against the business in a United States District Court Tuesday.
Frontier Justice released a statement, saying it has had no complaints about its policies except from Barakat. It also offers Muslims who want to wear the hijab a chance to use a shot simulator or to wear a swim hijab.
“It saddens us that anyone would say we are not inclusive, given that we serve all races and religions every single day in all of our stores. We pride ourselves on this fact, and we strongly believe in America and the Second Amendment that is for every single American. Period,” Bren Brown, president of Frontier Justice, said in the statement.
The lawsuit claims Frontier Justice has a policy of turning away Muslims wearing hijabs, citing several social media posts from other Muslims who say they were also denied use of the shooting range. It also claims that Instagram posts from Frontier Justice show customers wearing baseball caps turned backward, and hats and scarves.
“It is completely unacceptable for a business establishment to deny service to customers based on their religious beliefs — and that is exactly what Frontier Justice has done,” Moussa Elbayoumy, chairman of the board of CAIR-Kansas, said in a statement. “The claim that a hijab somehow presents a safety issue is merely a bad excuse in an attempt to justify a pattern of discriminatory treatment of Muslim women.”
CAIR is hoping the federal court finds that Frontier Justice is in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and hopes to prohibit the business and its employees from acting in ways that discriminate against anyone based on their religion.
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