Strange encounter at diner with family: what would you do?

[American1776]

Setting: Me, my parents, my wife, and almost 4 year old daughter were out to eat at a local diner. I'm open carrying as usual, today a Ruger P90 .45 auto. As we walk in to be seated, I do my usual survey of everyone sitting down and take a mental note of who's who. I notice a man (50-60, black hair) watch me as we sit down. He is to my left.

After we are seated, the man gets up, (three tables over), and approaches our table with a bag in his hands. I go to high alert. He asks my parents if they are the parents of my daughter, then says something about how he watched as the little girl lead all of us inside. He reaches in the bag. Pulls out a lollipop for my daughter. He goes and sits back down.

The whole time I was ready to reach for the .45, but I didn't put my hand on it. When his hand went in the bag, I made the decision not to 'make a scene' and just be ready.

My dad, afterward, expressed his disturbance about his inability to react properly to the situation. I myself am a little disturbed.

His hand could have went in the bag, and out came bullets. Or a knife. Or a present.

What is the indicated response here? I'm only trying to learn for the future. thanks.

[raxar]

That behavior is odd enough to warrant talking to the manager. A stern warning for him to get the fuck away from you would have been the best course of action.

[PAMedic=F|A=]

Unfortunately it is a sign of the times, which is to say it is really a sign of how bad the modern media with their 24/7 reporting has made us concerned. Most people are not murders, kidnappers, &l.

For example. My son was a neon rainbow colored hedgehog, which he loves.

It was given to him by a stranger at a restaurant, as we were leaving. He did not notice, or care about my 1911, he had a stuffed toy he did not want & wanted to make a kids day a little better. As His wife explained, & has obviously had to do before, he enjoys those stupid claw machines. He obviously does not want (or is not allowed) to take the prizes for his skill home.

It isn't change the fact that both my wife & I were made uncomfortable. However there was zero valid reason for the discomfort.

It has been socially unacceptable for men to do nice things for children, outside of a rigidly defined social activity (scouting, coach). As my employment puts me as the "housewife" more often than my wife, I am frequently reminded of this when I take my boys out.

[MARINE DIVISION TWO]

Creepy Mother F-- -- Ker !

[Gman106]

Media and feminists have succeeded in casting all men as rapists, pedophiles and molesters. All of us, for the most part, have bought-in to the lie and are hyper-vigilant of any grown man expressing interest or showing kindness to children. Well, back to my white van, candy and requests to help find my lost puppy!

[Marcus99]

Setting: Me, my parents, my wife, and almost 4 year old daughter were out to eat at a local diner. I'm open carrying as usual, today a Ruger P90 .45 auto. As we walk in to be seated, I do my usual survey of everyone sitting down and take a mental note of who's who. I notice a man (50-60, black hair) watch me as we sit down. He is to my left.

After we are seated, the man gets up, (three tables over), and approaches our table with a bag in his hands. I go to high alert. He asks my parents if they are the parents of my daughter, then says something about how he watched as the little girl lead all of us inside. He reaches in the bag. Pulls out a lollipop for my daughter. He goes and sits back down.

The whole time I was ready to reach for the .45, but I didn't put my hand on it. When his hand went in the bag, I made the decision not to 'make a scene' and just be ready.

My dad, afterward, expressed his disturbance about his inability to react properly to the situation. I myself am a little disturbed.

His hand could have went in the bag, and out came bullets. Or a knife. Or a present.

What is the indicated response here? I'm only trying to learn for the future. thanks.

What would your Dad's proper response have been? I'm honestly not certain what you're asking about? You had a heightened sense of awareness as your family was approached by a stranger, what else would you do? I wouldn't have reached for my gun or "made a scene"(whatever that means)

[JAKIII]

His hand could have went in the bag, and out came bullets. Or a knife. Or a present.

The individual's mannerisms did seem rather odd and my spidey sense would have been piqued as well. Nevertheless...

I don't know where "somewhere Pennsylvania" is, but depending on where you live, I would not have expected something bad to come out of the bag.

[streaker69]

I've had several "encounters" with people that appreciate seeing well behaved confident children out in public. Most of the time it's just a compliment as to how nice it is to see children being good in a store. That said, I would have had the child graciously accept the lollipop and then once the guy was gone taken it from her and explain why we don't accept candy from strangers. Doing it that way saves creating a scene and allows the man to keep his pride, but also protects your child.

[American1776]

The individual's mannerisms did seem rather odd and my spidey sense would have been piqued as well. Nevertheless...

I don't know where "somewhere Pennsylvania" is, but depending on where you live, I would not have expected something bad to come out of the bag.

It's a very suburban place, with lots of 'rural' areas. All families and really senior folks eating breakfast on a sunday morning. I didn't expect something bad coming out of the bag, but it crossed my mind as a possibility.

[American1776]

I've had several "encounters" with people that appreciate seeing well behaved confident children out in public. Most of the time it's just a compliment as to how nice it is to see children being good in a store. That said, I would have had the child graciously accept the lollipop and then once the guy was gone taken it from her and explain why we don't accept candy from strangers. Doing it that way saves creating a scene and allows the man to keep his pride, but also protects your child.

thanks for that. That's pretty much exactly what we did in the end.