"See That Man? He's Going To Shoot You!"

[OhioCatter]

Yes we all agree the parent was the problem and not the OC of the OP in this case. Heres how it went when my kids thought it would be a good time to throw a fit in the store. Look for restroom sign above, follow to restroom, take childout of cart, take child into restroom,one swift smack to the backside to get their attention then back to shopping. I'm not saying that hitting is the answer to correcting your kids, but at that place and time there are not a lot of other options. Raise your kids, do the best you can and hope they turn out to be good, well mannered, and respectfull in life.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[G.S.C.]

Good for you !!! But... in my day.. the "Mother" would have been embarrassed to have a child act up like that in public !! But today everyone else is the cause of their child's "ME" attitude.

[Ogre]

I get this sort of thing all the time, wal-mart, street, work....I got it before I got my permit. I got it before I got my bike. I get it alot now, and I cc my judge. But it is more "behave or I'll get that big man to whup you" I am 6'5" weigh 265, have a long ponytail and generally wear jeans, tee, vest and boots. I don't do it for a "tough guy image", that is what is comfortable for me (storage for phone, gun, glasses, etc etc without the discomfort of a jacket), my wife likes the ponytail, and well, genetics made me my size.

OP you did good, I have done the same, if not for it causing my leatherman to fall, I would strip off the belt and offer it to the mother.

[hrufrdr1]

It was a completely inappropriate thing for her to say, and you handled it well.

[White7]

It was a completely inappropriate thing for her to say, and you handled it well.

What he said

[pacman]

So I have read this entire thread in the hopes of hearing what the mother had to say in response to the OP's comments.

Unless I somehow missed it buried somewhere in the 10 pages, I don't think it's there.

What did she say after you commented to her?

[Dumbledork]

So I have read this entire thread in the hopes of hearing what the mother had to say in response to the OP's comments.

Unless I somehow missed it buried somewhere in the 10 pages, I don't think it's there.

What did she say after you commented to her?

She didn't say anything at all. She looked really embarrassed, if I remember correctly.

[Claymore]

Haven't read through this whole thread so I hope I'm not echoing anyone.

I believe the OP was right to say something, but I believe it would have been a googd time too respond in a calm voice minus the swearing.
"Moooooom! The "damned boogeyman" is in my room!"

What bugs me the most about the situation is that a grown woman was trying to use a death threat to get a child to behave. Let's just skip spanking, taking him away from the store, or other punishments and threaten to have him shot. Of course, if that is what she was resorting to, then the child probably knows she never follows through on a threat which is too often the problem.
When she tried to use a stranger in public to make threats like this, how is her behavior at that moment any better than the child's?

[maat]

Deleted.

[sensei2]

dear dumbledork: this was a post that i thought long and hard about. i read every posted comment. i understand your aggravation at being made into a threatening figure, and speaking to the mother as you did would, frankly, have been my reactionary response. but for me the usefulness of your experience was that it gave me plenty of time to consider how would i would have LIKED to have handled this situation if it had happened to me. all the comments about OC, parenting, etc., were irrelevant to this end. i decided that i would now respond to the situation by addressing the child directly: "young man (or young lady), i would NEVER EVER shoot you, but don't you think it would be good if you could calm down a bit and make it easier on your mom?" i would hold his/her gaze for a few seconds, nod at the mom, then walk away. and it took me about 15 minutes of thinking to arrive at this conclusion. thanks for sharing this.

[Dumbledork]

dear dumbledork: this was a post that i thought long and hard about. i read every posted comment. i understand your aggravation at being made into a threatening figure, and speaking to the mother as you did would, frankly, have been my reactionary response. but for me the usefulness of your experience was that it gave me plenty of time to consider how would i would have LIKED to have handled this situation if it had happened to me. all the comments about OC, parenting, etc., were irrelevant to this end. i decided that i would now respond to the situation by addressing the child directly: "young man (or young lady), i would NEVER EVER shoot you, but don't you think it would be good if you could calm down a bit and make it easier on your mom?" i would hold his/her gaze for a few seconds, nod at the mom, then walk away. and it took me about 15 minutes of thinking to arrive at this conclusion. thanks for sharing this.

Thank you for taking the time to to read this, and the responses, and then taking the time to actually think about this. I'm glad that you recognize that the comentary in this thread about open carry was irrelevant, and I'm mostly glad that you were able to come to your own conclusions about how you might react in a similar situation.

[RayBar]

Don't let this shock you,even stupid can give birth.