90 DAY FIANCE Jay’s sister explains why Natalie was at Vegas wedding, Ashley accused of attempting illegal gun purchase

The story line for 90 Day Fiance couple Jay and Ashley has raised A LOT of questions, and Ashley continues to try to fill in the blanks for fans on social media. Last week she explained why she and Jay had three different weddings, and now she’s shedding a little light on those infamous wedding registry comments. Plus, Jay’s sister explains why Ashley’s supposedly former bestie Natalie was in attendance at the Elvis-themed wedding ceremony in Las Vegas.

In case you missed it, Natalie posted a couple of photos at the Las Vegas wedding ceremony, including a group photo with her fiance, Ashley, Jay, and another couple in which everybody seemed quite chummy.

Here’s that picture:

Obviously, the photo confused fans who were under the assumption that Ashley and Natalie had fallen out as shown on screen — so why was she at the wedding in Las Vegas seeming to still be chummy with Jay and Ashley?

Jay’s sister sent a message to 90 Day Fiance social mediator John Yates and offered up a very complicated behind-the-scenes explanation that does manage to make sense of everything:

Hey! I wanted to reach out to you, because I’m Jays sister and I’m sick of seeing Natalie try to destroy them. The wedding story goes like this: Natalie called every chapel in Vegas until she got the right one who told her the day and time it was scheduled. Her and her fiancé waited for Ashley and Jay to go in. They tried to crash it and were removed. TLC was furious. They tried to book a redo ceremony but weren’t able to because the chapel was booked the rest of the day. After the wedding they waited for Ashley and Jay and Jay and Natalie’s fiancé almost physically fought. Apparently TLC didn’t think they could cut out the wedding being crashed and since they couldn’t find a way to redo the ceremony they thought they would make it look like they reconciled for show purposes.

They asked Jay and Ashley to take a photo with them at the sign and film a scene there. Jay and Ashley refused. After they offered them a nice amount of money and security they agreed. TLC never showed that because they realized they could edit Natalie out of the ceremony. The mad and sad faces in the limo are due to Natalie and her fiancé. They crashed the ceremony and it was so ridiculous tv didn’t even want to show it! Stop giving this psycho attention!

Natalie did say something about her fiance and Jay getting into a fight at the ceremony, so it may be that Jay’s sister is telling the truth. What’s odd is that I assume Natalie knew that Ashley and Jay were already married given that it was past the 90 days when they were in Las Vegas, so why make the trip and cause all that drama? (Of course there is an obvious answer: It was TLC producers who set it all up, including letting Natalie know where the wedding was going to be.)

Speaking of Ashley’s actual wedding being before the Las Vegas wedding, let’s move on to what Ashley has revealed in regards to those alleged racist comments left on her and Jay’s wedding registry — which Jay and Ashley claim is the reason they decided to have their wedding ceremony in Vegas.

Ashley previously mentioned that there was someone behind the registry comments, and that he was a jilted ex from high school — or something along those lines. As it turns out, it may be a little more complicated than that.

I will start with the part of the backstory that everyone seems to agree on. Ashley and Jay went into a local gun shop and attempted to buy a gun prior to their wedding date. The gun shop owner denied the purchase, and Ashley later went to another gun shop and bought a gun.

Where the recollections of the story diverge is the reason that Ashley was not allowed to purchase the gun. The gun shop owner claims that Jay was in the shop earlier with a different woman, so when he returned with Ashley later and she wanted to buy a gun, the salesman got suspicious that it might be a “straw purchase.” A straw purchase is when someone legally purchases a gun for someone else who is not legally allowed to buy one. The gun shop owner posted a detailed account of what happened on Facebook (included below), and the comments section BLEW UP — including numerous since-deleted comments from Ashley.

There were some racist comments, but those comments were not from the gun shop page or the salesman (as far as I could tell.) “What happened looked to be a straw sale,” the salesman explained in the comments after someone shared a post from Ashley saying the incident was partially motivated because Jay was black. “It had nothing to do with race. She tried to make it about race. It’s not. Never was, never will be.”

Ashley posted about the purchase denial on her Facebook page, calling out the initial gun shop and revealing she was immediately able to get a pistol at another store in town. Ashley thanked the new gun shop for being “beyond helpful and extremely friendly.” She then boasted: “Now we have this new guy added to our collection.” In a later update, Ashley changed out the plural pronouns so that it read: “Now I have this new guy added to my collection.”

Ashley signed off with a middle finger emoji directed at the first gun shop she visited as she added: “You lost a good customer.”

Once the gun purchase story started making the rounds this weekend, Ashley responded on Instagram by connecting the initial gun salesman to the person who allegedly left hateful comments on her and Jay’s wedding registry:

That’s the Cliff’s Notes version of what happened. I will wrap up this post by sharing the relatively unabridged versions from the gun shop salesman as well as Ashley.

GUN SHOP OWNER’S ACCOUNT
March 13, 2018

A few of you asked what happened in our Store today. Thanks for reaching out. Here’s the story:

A man and a woman spent over an hour in the Store this morning looking at handguns. No big deal. A few hours later the same gentleman came back with a different woman. They walked in and he pointed to a gun in the case. She called one of our Salesman and asked to see it. The Salesman handed it to the woman. She had little interest and immediately handed it to the gentleman. He examined it, handed it back to her, and she said “he’ll take it”. Our Salesman asked for his identification and the woman pulled out her ID. Our salesmen are trained to “STOP THE SALE” when there is confusion The Salesman notified the Store Manager that he was certain that this was an attempted “STRAW PURCHASE”. This is when a Federally Licencesed Dealer suspects that a person is purchasing a firearm for another person who may or may not legally be able to own that firearm.

The Salesman was told he could not sell them the firearm. This is a small Store, when he informed them he could not sell them a firearm, others in the Store were able to hear the conversation. It took 10 seconds. As they walked out, she said she thought it was an issue of race. The Salesman stated it was an issue of a felony which could be subject to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. They left. One of the customers in the Store stated to the Salesman, “well handled”. That person showed his badge and said he was “a retired ATF agent.” A few minutes later the woman came back in the Store and began to take pictures of our Salesman. He asked, “why are you taking my picture?” The woman replied “you just made the biggest ef’n mistake of your life”. Since he did not know her name and there was concern of a potential crime and the threat, he decided to go outside to take a picture of her license plate. Our salesman was NOT carrying, wearing, concealing or exhibiting any weapon. She called the Police and said that the Salesman brandished a weapon. We have parking lot video that shows he held up his cell phone and only took a picture of the vehicle. We also have the entire event captured on video from inside and outside the Store. Other people heard the sale denial and the Salesman was never out of line. We will continue to maintain our high standards of protection to the public by continually enforcing all Federal, State, and local laws in our Store. We will also pursue this incident with the ATF. We are waiting to finish discussion with our attorneys and the ATF before posting video, so that all may see a Salesman doing a good job stopping a STRAW PURCHASE. Responsible sales and responsible gun ownership will continue to protect our rights, and possibly stop tragedy. This woman was WRONG! Everyone know this incident was not rude, racial or threatening. We have proof. Anyone still uncertain, please know that this will always be our responsible business practice. It’s our responsibility to STOP THE SALE when things don’t seem right.

ASHLEY’S ACCOUNT
* This is compiled from screen caps of Ashley’s deleted post, and unfortunately there were lines omitted in the screen caps.

You’re correct, as a store owner you explained their side of things in a respectful manner and made me understand the laws and concerns a little better. I honestly never even heard of a straw sale until he accused me of attempting to do one. I just wish I was treated the same and not shamed and yelled at and embarrassed in this store. Otherwise, this never would have escalated to the level it has.

Now attorneys and a civil law suit are in the process of being filed because one person took his authority to his head and mistreated potential customers and brandished a gun. When I state he brandished his gun I never said he pulled his gun out of its holster and pointed it at me as if he was going to shoot me. He simply pulled his shirt up and pulled his gun for what I’m assuming was a scare tactic and stated I was threatening him? In which I never threatened him one time during this whole altercation. It should have never gotten to this level. The fact I did my research and shot this gun at the range I already knew what I wanted. My fiance…

[CUT] [I am guessing Ashley explains that Jay and a friend visited the gun store while she shopped at a wedding dress shop.]

…if they had what I was interested in while I was at a bridal gown fitting right up the road. They went to waste time so he didn’t see my dress. When they returned to get me my fiance stated he thought they had the gun I wanted and it was used so it was slightly cheaper. We went back to the store so I could see if it was the one I tried and liked. We saw it walked around and looked and then I asked to see the gun. I looked at it and I asked my fiance to look at the gun and if he thought I would have issues cocking it back because at the range some of them gave me trouble and I had him try it out as well since it was used to make sure it wouldn’t be an issue. I didn’t think this was a big deal since he can use guns at the range all day without any issues. I had just spoke with Trop and decided to trade my .38 special in because I didn’t like how it kicked when I shot it so they were going to purchase it back from me. It just so happened Spar had a used gun which was a little less expensive and Trop didn’t so I was gonna purchase that one since I don’t use the gun besides to go to the range. So yes I…

[CUT]

…and I see why they thought it may be suspicious. My issue is how we were treated and how the employee responded to me. Not that they wouldn’t sell me the gun. No one deserves to be treated like that. Again, I see where the employee thought it could be a potential straw sale. I’m not faulting him for that. I’m upset for the treatment I received. There is zero video footage from what happened outside and that is coming from the officer who investigated this and who I called and reported this incident to. Again, I called the police and I walked in and gave my written statement on my own will. I’m pretty sure Criminals don’t do that. From the officer’s point of view he stated the video footage definitely showed some commotion when he returned from the back of the store with my ID because everyone stopped what they were doing and were staring at us. He simply could have said I’m sorry I am unable to sell this gun to you. He didn’t [have to] immediately accuse us of doing a straw sale with his voice raised and then got even louder. That wasn’t necessary. Yes…

[CUT]

…photos to blast him because you shouldn’t treat people like that and no one deserves to be treated like that. He asked me for my id I gave it to him and asked if he needed my concealed carrying license. He never requested anything from my fiance. He has zero criminal history or mental health history and is free to go into any gun shop and look at guns as well as go to the range and rent any weapon and shoot there has been no issue with him doing so. There is zero harm in asking your fiance who resides with you what they think about a gun purchase you’re going to make. No one ever stated the gun was for him and again the employee never asked him a for a single form of identification or if the gun was in fact for him. Again, the police officer agrees he was not asked for any information in the video footage he was shown. So yes, I am looking forward to the video coming out, and hoping you all realize what actually happened. I left the Police station and went and bought a gun a at another location without incident. So you guys can bash me all you want. I was doing what every one of you…

[CUT]

…amendment rights and doing it legally. If I wasn’t I would currently be incarcerated. The case is already closed and there was no criminal charges brought against the employee as the UPS truck was in the way of the outdoor cameras so there was zero proof of brandishing a weapon and I obviously was not charged nor had my rights taken to go and purchase a gun. I also hate to rain on your parade for all of you praising them for their good work as I was told by the officer that they didn’t follow proper Protocol. When there is an attempted straw sale employees are supposed to take IDs of the individuals, photo copy them, and then return them and notify Local authorities so they can investigate a potential straw. As you can see in their post they claim the employee ran out after me to get my license plate information since I took photos and he thought I was a threat. He wouldn’t have needed to do that if he had a photo copy of my ID In which he didn’t because the cop said he had no information or a photo copy of either of our licenses. All he had was a photo of…

[CUT]

…statement also states that I told him I took his photos to give to someone to “take care of him” basically like a hit man. They stated a completely different story in this post. If they don’t show the video footage I will show it the day my attorney gets the rights to it as well as his statement and police report. I have no issue doing this. Before you all bash someone you should wait for the facts to come out and commenting about seeing my boobs is just distasteful. It’s sad to see all the sexism come out in this post as well. So, if it makes you feel good to sit behind a computer and bash people all I can say is I feel sorry for you…also I didn’t hold the store itself accountable for their employee’s actions. It was the employee himself that is responsible for this mess you can’t always hold a business responsible for a possible disgruntled employee, but since the shop wants to defend him and lie to all its customers and the public this is now an issue with both the employee and the owners. So once again hold tight until the evidence is out before passing judgment on someone.

Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com