Dollar Store In Chicago Pulls BB Gun From Shelf After Customer Complains

(CBS) – A Chicago woman walked into a Bronzeville Dollar General store and could not believe what she saw: a handgun, or what looked like one, for sale behind the counter.

So, she called the company.  CBS 2's Dana Kozlov reports what happened next surprised her.

"It was extremely inappropriate. It made me uncomfortable," says Cydni Polk.

She says she stopped and stared at the new item for sale behind the Dollar General store counter on Tuesday: an authentic-looking BB gun in a box, for $15.

"I asked them how long they'd been carrying it. They didn't know, but the cashiers were kind of shocked, too."

The Dollar General is at 39th and Vincennes, right across the street from Polk's job at Oakwood Shores Apartments. Polk, mother of two, goes there every day.

She marched back to work and called Dollar General's corporate offices, demanding a meeting with a manger. One called her back Wednesday.

Polk told him that, considering gun violence in Chicago, the item was inappropriate, bad for the community and could be used for the wrong reasons.

"He said he hadn't thought about it that way," she says. "He agreed."

The representative told her the BB gun at the Bronzeville store would be removed. Similar products at other Chicago stores also would be yanked, she was told.

Polk checked. Less than an hour later, the BB gun was gone, its spot on that shelf empty.

"If you see something that you don't want in your community or if you see something that's not right in your community you can do something about it," says Khari Humphries, Polk's co-worker.