laws on machetes - Page 2

carmen · 08-10-2012, 09:26 AM

I can promise you I am not running around downtown in the markets with one or toting it to school when I pick up the kids. I know we had a run-in with stray dogs (all pits) a few months back, animal control said do what you need to do to protect yourself, mainly on your property. If my kids were out in the yard when it happened I am sure most would not see me in the same light.

I am wondering now though because even if we have an alarm system (which we do) we are still currently without a CWL (or a gun), what would happen if someone broke in when my husband was away and I went for the machete? I am guessing only to defend myself and disable the attacker, nothing more. Am I at fault and can I get fined?

oldsarge · 08-10-2012, 10:43 AM

If someone breaks into your house, you can use whatever is at hand to defend yourself. Your first mistake is try to disable the attacker. When you start looking for targets to disable, you are just prolonging the assault on you. This individual cares nothing for you! Your attack on him , not defense, should be with extreme force of violence and unrelenting. Once he's down get away.

As far as a machete is concerned, once you start swinging it, you are going to do a lot of damage, messy, messy ,messy! The image alone of you standing there with that thing may frighten him off.

dinosaur · 08-11-2012, 09:17 AM

I have to agree with Cowtown. I know a guy who has a black bladed machete for clandestine ops with a copy of Outdoor Life wrapped around the sheath (detachable magazine).

carmen · 08-13-2012, 10:02 AM

The sheath is beautiful and normally it is locked in a case that is hung on the wall up high away from pets and kids. I love the work they did on it and I still have no clue where the husband picked it up from, I think Belize? I hope to never need to use it and while we have an alarm system, some nights he works very late and I do not trust anyone unless I know them, esp. if they are trying to break into my house.

Esperahol · 08-20-2012, 03:59 AM

I've heard boo about them around here, but then this is the South and hunting is something everyone does. I mean kids come to class with their rifle in the back of their trucks and such, so a machete isn't going to get too many looks so long as nobody gets threatened with the stupid thing.

dinosaur · 08-20-2012, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Esperahol

This is the South and hunting is something everyone does.

I think I know what you're talking about here. I want you to know that "up Nawth" us country folks all hunt too. I figure y'all are just talking about the big city folks.

ChadTower · 08-20-2012, 12:06 PM

A machete isn't going to help you against an angry dog. You're not going to have the distance to swing anything. A dog is serious in close self defense. You'd have to get all stabby and a machete is round.

oldsarge · 08-20-2012, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChadTower

A machete isn't going to help you against an angry dog. You're not going to have the distance to swing anything. A dog is serious in close self defense. You'd have to get all stabby and a machete is round.

True, I'd much rather have a knife.

Esperahol · 08-21-2012, 03:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dinosaur

I think I know what you're talking about here. I want you to know that "up Nawth" us country folks all hunt too. I figure y'all are just talking about the big city folks.

Oh, I know ya'llun oop nawth hunt. I actually spent time up there because I like deer danggit and there are some mighty fine specimens further up. Some folks are very serious about their hunting, but some... Well weekend warriors are something you just have to take.

ChadTower · 08-21-2012, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Esperahol

Well weekend warriors are something you just have to take.

Yep, yep, yep. Here in MA there are a few good safe hunters. There are more that like to wander around small conservation areas with $700 in Bass Pro gear, tags still on, and a high powered rifle. Last year my sons and I were fishing and a guy wandered in telling us all about how he had just missed a deer up over the ridge and it ran off before he could get his shot. He didn't seem the slightest bit deterred that he was hunting on the grounds of a 100 year old convent that forbids it. Or that 75 yards behind his target was a meditation garden where 90 year old nuns frequently sit.

And you all remember the hunting accident story I was updating last year where a state cop shot an old lady here because "her dog might have been a white tail".