By David Codrea
USA – -(Ammoland.com)- “A local waitress who fired her gun at three fleeing robbers is now out of a job,” The Newnan Times Herald reported Monday. “Heather ‘Shorty’ Burkinshaw-Stanley learned Friday by phone that she was terminated from her job at Waffle House a day after the restaurant was robbed.”
Several facts seem clear:
A trio of men reportedly threatened to shoot everyone in the building if their demand for cash was not met.
Despite a corporate ban on customers bringing personal firearms on its premises under the guise of “policies that make everyone feel welcome,” Waffle House locations have been prime targets for welcoming armed robbers – including “a surge in robberies at Newnan-area Waffle Houses.”
A simple web search shows the policy is anything but effective. That means the predators feel they can expect minimal resistance. And Waffle House management knows that, but still insists on employee and customer defenselessness.
As to the incident resulting in the waitress being fired, there are lessons here that all gun owners should have learned and that hopefully, will sink in with her.
“After they departed on foot, Stanley retrieved a gun from her own car in the parking lot and fired over the heads of the robbers,” the report elaborated.
“I wasn’t sure if they were coming back or not,” Stanley explained. “I was in fear for my life, my co-workers’ lives, and I did what I thought was right.”
Perhaps retrieving a gun in case the robbers returned was prudent. But firing a gun over the suspects’ heads as they fled – a tactic I’ve not seen taught by any accredited trainer – certainly would make for a problematic legal defense. Not only does it violate Jeff Cooper’s Rule 4 of gun safety, a quick look at the Waffle House location shows it is in an area with other restaurants, hotels, businesses and well-traveled roads. As another story from over the weekend shows, what goes up must come down, and sometimes with injurious results.
There’s one other important lesson, and that’s after you’ve been involved in a shooting, shut up about it. Don’t try to justify yourself to the media and especially never talk to the police without benefit of counsel. Ms. Stanley had better hope her GoFundMe page, set up to offset her loss of income, doesn’t turn into a legal defense fund plea.
There’s also a final question, one some of us have been asking for some time: Why would anyone who believes in the right to keep and bear arms patronize Waffle House?
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating / defending the RKBA and a long-time gun rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament.
In addition to being a field editor/columnist at GUNS Magazine and associate editor for Oath Keepers, he blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
I don’t support anti gun companies with my money, but that is just me. I don’t subscribe to any papers and have cut the cord on tv so no money toward the networks. Waffle House is on that same list.
I’m sure gonna’ miss ’em…..
I don’t eat at “gun-free” places, so I reckon Waffle House is another on my list.
Their policy is crap and the Waffle Houses in Little Rock AR have been easy targets for crooks. They have been going in and even taking the cash registers and this has happened in many of them
Do not do business with those who refuse legal CCW. It is just that simple. They have the right to refuse you service and you in turn, have the right to not give them your business. Your safety and well being means much more than their corporate policy.
NO GUNS (CCW) NO CASH. I will always protect my life and mine and any one else from criminals
The waitress was wrong to shoot over the perp’s heads – as already stated, in a built-up area, the bullet is likely to hit SOMEthing or SOMEone not involved in the robbery. Very bad judgement – almost as bad as Waffle House’s victim disarmament zone policy. I live in Texas, where the places I cannot legally carry a concealed weapon are either explicitly spelled out in the law (secure area of an airport, courtrooms, etc.) or must display conspicuous signage which meets the exact requirements spelled out in the Texas Penal Code. Other than things like airports and courtrooms when… Read more »
You carry concealed for a reason, unless it’s a federal or state building that doesn’t permit carrying, screw the signs, I never read signs in th first place. Most are illegal and are not written up to state code.
If I owned a restaurant I would hire her. Then she would get some serious training.
No doubt these 3 scum will go on and probably kill some innocent people. Employee should have dropped all 3 with LETHAL shots and she should be re-instated at her job. The threat of bodily harm was still in effect. The scum could have easily returned and killed people.