What started as an argument over a place in line at a fast food restaurant in a mall food court ended with a woman drawing her handgun.
A woman and at least three other women got into an argument over a place in line at a Five Guys fast food restaurant in the King of Prussia Mall in Pennsylvania yesterday. The woman by herself moved to the side to wait for her food when two women from the group approached her and started the argument again.
She told police that she felt threatened and thought they were about to attack her, so she drew a handgun from her purse and pointed it at the women. One witness reported that she told them to back off and that she would shoot them.
The two women backed off, and the woman who pulled the handgun put it back in her purse. Another argument ensued, but she did not draw her gun again.
The incident caused nearly 100 people to flee the area, but there are no reports of anyone being injured.
Quick video of when people started to run out of the food court https://t.co/MEuWVDV9ML pic.twitter.com/PrNWcqaHRj
— Corey Cohen (@CoreyECohen) August 25, 2022
So uh, this lady just pulled a gun on some Black women at the Five Guys in the King of Prussia Mall food court? Whole food court emptied out. Then the cops got here, cuffed her, and confiscated the gun. pic.twitter.com/UFPr8jqfrP
— Corey Cohen (@CoreyECohen) August 25, 2022
The police responded quickly and placed the woman who drew her handgun in custody. The woman has a valid Pennsylvania concealed carry permit, and the police said she would not be charged.
At first glance, you might say that drawing a handgun over an argument about a place in line at a fast food restaurant is uncalled for. But there is something called Disparity of Force.
Disparity of Force is defined as a situation that any reasonable person would conclude places you at an overwhelming disadvantage in your effort to protect yourself against immediate and serious bodily injury. Recognize that there is no law about disparity of force.
Since the police aren’t charging her, I can only assume that is what the police think happened here. Two or more women versus one would definitely put the single woman at a disadvantage in protecting herself. Obviously, she felt like she was about to be attacked by multiple women and drew her gun to defend herself.
Now that said, do we really need to be getting into arguments over a place in line at a food court? No. We talk about this all the time, but if you carry a gun, you need to be more responsible about your actions. I know people will say something along the lines of, “So you’re supposed to just let someone cut in line?” In my opinion, yes. I don’t want to get into a pointless argument with someone I don’t know to where it then escalates to a point where I may have to draw my gun to defend myself.
Just because you are carrying a gun doesn’t mean you get to be the fast food line police. I’m not saying that’s what happened here exactly. We don’t know how the argument started. But the best option here is to de-escalate the situation or walk away. It just isn’t worth it.
