In any event, Mom was comfortable enough to let him have the child while she took a few days to "clear her head". If he really was a gun packing lunatic, she would not have done this.
She did do the correct legal action after, however, and got an emergency custody order. NOW he's violating the law, before, he was just a Dad with his child. Being very mean to Mom.
He's now committing Custodial Interference, and the cops can act and arrest accordingly. BTW, Beachdude, I like your analogy- what if Mini teacup was the Dad and the "abductor" was Mom. We'd see a different reaction here at FR, I'll bet. But you need to brush up on the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act, UIFSA, and Parental Kidnapping Act. Valid Orders regarding a child can only come from the child's "Home State", where the child has prior litigation, or where the child has resided for the last six months. That helped put the kabosh on the conduct you describe.