The Daily Populous Tuesday February 3rd, 2026 evening edition
Authored by krtv.com and submitted by Yup_Shes_Still_Mad

GREAT FALLS — Evening NightGun of Great Falls claims she was denied a routine return at Target because employees refused to acknowledge her federally recognized Tribal identification.

NightGun, a Blackfeet Nation member and new mother, went to the Target store in Great Falls recently to return things without a receipt.

When asked for photo identification, she showed her Tribal ID, which she says she has used without trouble her entire life.

NightGun explains what happened - watch the video:

Great Falls woman says Target refused to accept her Tribal ID

"They asked for photo ID. I gave them my Tribal ID," NightGun explained. "He looked at it and said, 'We don't accept these here.' I asked, 'What do you mean?' He said, 'I can't accept this.'"

NightGun claims the employee called a supervisor over, who also refused to accept the ID. She offered to assist them in manually entering the information if necessary, but was unable to find it in their database.

"I said, 'Really?' I was like, 'Do you want me to show you how to manually put it in?'" she said.

NightGun had worked at Target in Missoula and claims to have used the same Tribal ID when employed, adding to the confusion.

"I was also really just in disbelief," she claimed. "Out of all my 28 years of living, this was the first time someone has ever denied my identification card—the Blackfeet Tribal ID."

Tribal IDs are legally-recognized forms of identification that can be used for various legal and commercial purposes throughout the United States.

When MTN News contacted Target's corporate offices for clarity, we received different responses. Some representatives indicated Tribal IDs were accepted, but others said they weren't.

Target has not yet released a formal statement about the incident or their company policy.

The encounter was especially traumatic for NightGun, who claims the situation cut short an already tough outing as a postpartum mother.

"It kind of ruined my whole shopping spree," she told me. "As a postpartum mom, that's where we go for diapers and baby supplies. At that point, I couldn't even shop. I just wanted to go home."

NightGun, who is currently studying law at the University of Arizona's Global Campus, shared her tale on TikTok, where it swiftly garnered attention, in the hopes of providing clarity and preventing others from going through the same experience.

"I wanted to put it out there because I don't want another Native American to go to Target and get declined and not be able to finish a transaction because they have a Tribal identification card," she told me.

Her video has garnered more than 7,000 views and received support from both the Blackfeet Nation and the Great Falls community.

Target hasn't contacted NightGun since the incident. She said she doesn't intend to shop there again.

LooseMoralSwurkey on February 3rd, 2026 at 14:26 UTC »

A guy I went to college with on the East Coast was from Alaska. He told me that when he went to the liquor store, he was denied because they don't accept "international driver's licenses" (aka, his Alaskan driver's license) as a form of age verification. He tried arguing with the woman that Alaska was indeed a US state but she wouldn't budge. I was astounded.

LiquidAether on February 3rd, 2026 at 14:17 UTC »

Great Falls, Montana for anyone curious. The state wasn't immediately obvious in the article.

cricketclover on February 3rd, 2026 at 13:53 UTC »

I had a concession stand at an arena once tell me I couldn’t buy beer because my ID wasn’t a valid US drivers license. It was from Washington DC. Surely this was nothing deliberate, but just people being uninformed.