[Uncle Chip]

Tell me what you think the likely continuation of the situation would have been if the ex-cop had not drawn his gun.

Someone in the auditorium would have yelled out: "Hey you idiots -- shut up -- the movie is starting" -- and the good wife who was defusing things would have sat down with her husband and watched the movie.

If you think that carrying a gun in your pocket gives you some kind of moral superiority -- think again.

You are defending a guy who acted like an idiot.

[William Tell]

Uncle Chip said: "... the good wife who was defusing things would have sat down with her husband and watched the movie."

So you, being a reasonable person, and just having thrown popcorn into an irate stranger's face, would just sit down to watch the movie as if nothing had happened?

You would not be anticipating any retaliation at all?

Would you be expecting the defendant to leave the theater and call the police? Would you just sit there waiting for the police? What would you tell the police?

[ez]

I think it’s very likely that the thrown popcorn did not cause the shooter to “ fear for his life or great bodily harm” but that it actually “pissed him off.”