Northern Florida, Walmart, rejected coupon, gun. Yes, some stories really do write themselves.

The scene happened Monday in the Panhandle community of Crawfordville, FL. 61-year-old Mary Frances Alday brought an internet coupon to her local Walmart. The one dollar coupon was rejected. The angry Alday responded by calling the assistant manager, Tracy Stockslager, 48, “a bitch and other foul names.”

Alday was kicked out of the store where she reportedly warned Stockslager not to follow her. The employee says she “was going to get her vehicle license plate number.”





Alday replied (from The Smoking Gun), “If you follow me, I have something in my car for you,” Alday warned. The Smoking Gun continues:

As several Walmart employees watched from the store’s entrance, Alday appeared outside her car “waving the gun in the holster,” reported investigators. Alday then removed the weapon–a loaded Smith & Wesson .38 Special–from the holster and pointed it “at all the store employees and stated ‘I have something for Y’all.’” The Walmart workers “retreated back inside the building due to being in fear for their lives.” Alday, who fled the Walmart parking lot in a 2011 Ford Escape, was subsequently pulled over by a sheriff’s deputy who asked if there was a firearm in the SUV. “Yes, I have a concealed weapons permit, and you are not taking my gun.” Asked about the gun’s location, Alday replied, “You’re not taking my gun.” Alday twice refused the deputy’s request to exit the auto, and was tasered when she “reached over the console for something in the passenger seat.” Alday was then dragged from the car and handcuffed. The gun was found in the vehicle’s center console.

Alday was taken into police custody and charged with four counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of battery. She hasn’t yet appeared in court and there’s no indication as to whether she will claim the Stand Your Ground Law as defense against the store employees who were following her to her car.

While it’s easy for us to laugh at the situation, guns are a real concern to service employees. As more and more people carry concealed weapons, gun owners are beginning to see guns not as a Second Amendment right, but almost as a First Amendment right. All too commonly, people actually feel they have the right to speak through their gun and unfortunately, it is often the local store clerk who falls victim to people’s anger, which is part of the reason the Service Employees International Union sees safe gun laws as a workplace safety issue. I’m sure the Walmart employees in Crawfordville, FL would agree.