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Forget about hairy-armed hitchhikers and over-priced merchandise — the real danger at malls these days is well-armed, middle-aged women. Keep those car doors locked! A gun-toting granny stars in this tale, which — like the Pocket(ed) Watch, Stolen Biscuits, and Jogger's Billfold legends — features the one who'd thought herself the victim of a theft acting on that assumption, and in the process becoming the actual wrongdoer. Though it's impossible to tell how long this particular story has been with us, the victim-turned-robber motif has appeared in urban legends since the early 1900s. Examples: The reaction most of us have to this legend nowadays is likely a pleasant chuckle at the humor of an inadvertent mix-up and at the thought of a crusty old gray-haired, pistol-wielding broad scaring the daylights out of a bunch of (innocent) men. Unlike the other legends cited in the previous paragraph, and in common with Hit the Floor!, however, this tale often incorporates the theme of racism by presenting a white woman who automatically assumes the black men she encounters are possessed of criminal intent. In both legends, benefit of the doubt is not extended: the woman immediately acts upon her presumption. In previous decades this legend might have been intended as a vehicle for racist attitudes: the teller could reinforce societal prejudice against blacks by relating a humorous tale in which African-Americans are assumed to be criminals, all under the guise of passing along an amusing anecdote rather than expressing his personal beliefs. Fortunately, this legend is now most likely understood as the opposite: a put-down of racism. Had the middle-aged woman not been saddled with a foolish prejudice that caused her to equate black men with criminals, she wouldn't have found herself in an embarrassing predicament. Mercifully, some tellings don't specify anyone's color. Variations:Sightings: In an episode of television's Judging Amy (Imbroglio, original air date 6 November 2001), Maxine Grey (played by Tyne Daly) pulls a gun on a gang of teens she finds sitting in her car, takes the car back from them, then realizes the vehicle she's just commandeered is not her own.
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