Have you ever been so “hangry” that, even with food in hand, you’d threaten lethal force over some missing french fries? Most of us haven’t, but in a land of fruits and nuts, anything is possible. That’s exactly what happened in a Northern California McDonald’s earlier this month as a mother put on a poor parenting clinic while simultaneously proving that just because you have the right to bear arms doesn’t mean you demonstrate the disposition to do so responsibly.
On Friday afternoon, December 6, officers from the San Pablo Police Department responded to a local McDonald’s where a woman was apparently so upset over missing french fries from her order that she was threatening fast food workers with a firearm. As if her behavior wasn’t bad enough, the incident played out right in front of her children, according to police.
Police say the unidentified woman exited the store after making her initial purchase but sent her young children back into McDonald’s to complain about the missing fries. Employees reportedly asked the children to have their mother come back into the store with her receipt so they could resolve any discrepancy with the order. That’s where this story goes completely sideways.
The “hangry” mother confronted the McDonald’s employees, threatening to attack them and announcing she had a gun in her purse. Officers arrived shortly after, and the woman admitted she was carrying a loaded pistol in her purse, which she was having her 9-year-old daughter hold for her. No, I’m not joking at all. Police retrieved the purse from the young girl and secured the firearm.
The mother, aside from terrorizing not only the McDonald’s employees but undoubtedly her children also, was arrested and booked on multiple felony charges, including criminal threats with a firearm and child endangerment.
“She had to wait even longer for her food, which unfortunately was a sandwich and milk rather than a hamburger and fries,” the San Pablo Police Department wrote in good humor on its Facebook page.
I can’t even begin to imagine the thought process behind this woman’s actions and the abject negligence to do this in front of her children, while leaving her 9-year-old daughter in possession of a loaded firearm. At some point, most people who frequent fast-food restaurants will see an order come out wrong, and most of the time, the restaurant will get it right if you just bring the issue to their attention. Even if they still struggle to correct the issue, carrying a gun is never a means to get people to behave the way you want them to.
Most gun owners carry and use their firearms legally and responsibly, but beware of a false sense of empowerment that seems to intoxicate and bring out the worst in some people. Make sure you don’t let that happen to you.
