A sheriff's deputy was denied entry into Kay Jewelers because a manager decided his firearm violated the company's corporate policy. (Photo: Getty Images)

A sheriff’s deputy in North Carolina visited a Kay Jewelers store on Wednesday to pick up an engagement ring he bought to propose to his girlfriend, but employees wouldn’t let the uniformed officer inside because he had a service weapon.

The unidentified Iredell County sheriff’s deputy made what was supposed to be a quick trip to the jewelry store during his lunch break, as he’d received notice that the ring he’d ordered was sized and ready.

But when he arrived, a manager approached him at the door to tell him he could not enter while carrying his weapon, according to Fox 46. The deputy, in turn, explained that it was against policy for officers in uniform to remove their weapons — so the manager told the deputy to come back when he was unarmed.

Later in the day, Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell said he was “deeply saddened” by the incident, which he addressed in a statement on Facebook.

It read, in part, “The reaction our deputy encountered is very difficult for us to comprehend, and we earnestly hope situations such as these are few and are diminishing.”

The sheriff also reminded citizens that the policy forbidding firearm removal for uniformed officers “is in place for not only the safety of the deputy, but the general public as well.”

In an interview with WBTV, Sheriff Campbell called the incident “an attack because of a uniform ... because this officer, a young officer, his chosen profession is law enforcement. And he was refused service because of that decision. And that’s not right.”

The sheriff’s Facebook post quickly went viral, with more than 9,000 reactions and over 7,000 shares as of Thursday morning. Most of the post’s comments condemned the manager’s actions.

“The stupidity of the person or persons who would not allow him entry with his service weapon blows my mind,” one commented. “These men and women put their lives on the line to protect and serve these very people that turned him away.”

“Ok so the store gets robbed I guess the police can't go in because they are armed. After all that is store policy,” another wrote.

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Others took to Twitter to air their grievances. Some shamed Kay Jewelers and vowed to boycott the company.

Sad sad sad !! @KayJewelers you ought to be ashamed . https://t.co/bZ7Hb3U5aj — 💕Amber 💕 (@a_dawn1102) June 6, 2019

@KayJewelers I read the story in NC where a uniformed deputy was turned away because he was armed. Your business needs to aggressively get in front of this debacle. I have spent over $10k in your store. I will stop if you don’t address this disrespect. — Tracker3 (@trackker3) June 6, 2019

Unreal. Kay has always been the ONLY jeweler I've used..... but not ever again after the way they treated a member of our Law Enforcement community. Disgusting, to say the least. — Angela Billings (@yotetrapper) June 6, 2019

Some even chose to make light of the situation.

Every Diss Begins with Kay — Will McGee (@myopicmcgee) June 5, 2019

I’m going to Jared!! — texaggie90 (@texaggie90) June 6, 2019

Representatives for Kay Jewelers were quick to “sincerely apologize for the mishandling of this matter” on Wednesday. In a comment on the sheriff’s post, the company vowed to reach out to the deputy and wrote:

“We have tremendous respect for law enforcement, and we thank the Office for bringing this to our attention. We will be sure to reinforce store training regarding our firearm policy with specific regard to uniformed law enforcement.”

National Rifle Association (NRA) spokesperson Dana Loesch even jumped in on the discussion, first retweeting Kay Jewelers’ statement, then challenging the company to clarify its corporate policy.

Gun-free is your corporate policy, yes? Is that the same for uniformed law enforcement or are they an exception? Sorry, your response is unclear. https://t.co/iZXtgwbPJF — Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) June 5, 2019

For his part, Sheriff Campbell clarified Iredell County law enforcement’s firearm policy to Fox 46 by saying, “If an emergency happens, here’s what you have to expect from an officer: an officer is going to be armed. That’s tools of the trade.”

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