Protection for a price: Women discouraged by fees, wait for FID cards

The Daily News Transcript (Massachusetts) ^ | August 28, 2003 | Erin Walsh

[Living Free in NH]

Who the hell wants a "non-lethal" way to protect yourself from a mudrerer or rapist?

$100 fee to by a can of Tobasco aerosol? Get a pistol for a couple bills and keep it in your purse. Or if you insist on the spray, come on up to New Hampshire and pick it up no questions asked and no excessive fees.

[stevio]

Yea, crying about the law now. Voting for it then.

[per loin]

If the armed guards at the Kennedy and Kerry mansions have to fork over $100, why shoudn't poor women have to do the same?

[Orangedog]

A permit for pepper spray?! This has to be one of the most asinine thing I have heard of for a while. What is the waiting period for steak knives or the registration process for a baseball bat?

[coloradan]

A $100 permit for pepper spray might seem outrageous, but then again we are talking about the liberal socialist democratic utopia of Taxachussetts.

[freeeee]

These whiners are the same Sucker Moms who voted for the socialists who wrote these laws.

Well cry me a river!

Hey cupcakes: REAP WHAT YOU SOW!

[weegee]

The employee spoke of one result following the state's 1998 Gun Control Act, which made it impossible for anyone in Massachusetts to own a weapon -- including non-lethal pepper spray -- without first obtaining an FID card.

That all depends on what the meaning of "weapon" is. The situation from this line is that purchase could be outlawed (this is how we acquire ownership of possession).

Is a screwdriver a weapon? What about a steak knife?

I know that to carry a knife in your purse is to carry a conceled weapon which is a separate crime. We are talking about ownership. What items will eventually be put on this goverment list?

Oh this pepper spray? It's much easier to use in the kitchen than a bottle of dry pepper flakes or liquid condiments. It's like cheese whiz.

Meanwhile, genuine criminals will continue to carry weapons because they violate the law as a matter of profession/lifestyle choice.

[weegee]

Baseball bat? Why on Earth do you need a baseball bat?

If you are an adult and it is not a part of your profession (minor league/major league ballplayer) you really don't need one. There's nothing in the Constitution about "Right to carry baseball bats".

If you are a child in school or little league, the appropriate authorities can get the clearance to buy baseball bats (after receiving proper training). You children should join licensed ball leagues (after they have gone through background checks).

Too often we hear about a mob in the street that assault a person who is in the wrong place at the wrong time. Gangs can kill with a baseball bat (and perps have been as young as 9 years old!!!).

[weegee]

"Achooo! Sorry, pepper makes me sneeze."

[CDHart]

You'd be surprised the number of women who carry in their purses and no one ever suspects. They've decided they'd rather be judged by twelve than carried by six.

Carolyn

[pabianice]

"Town Meeting This Week! Learn How to Protect Yourself Against Attackers!"

There is a sign posted in the center of Westborough, MA -- one of the towns being stalked by a serial attacker. Westboro is also a home of lunatic leftism and went for Gore something like 90-10 in 2000.

The sign posts note that there will be a town meeting later this week so people can hear the police and other professionals tell women how to cower in fear before attackers and never resist ('that would make the attacker angry'); how to hide in one's home, lights out and shades drawn; how to beg for mercy; and that most important of all advice, how to dial 9-1-1. What will NOT be discussed is applying for a license to carry firearms or firearms training. The town government in Westboro reportedly does not believe that private citizens should be allowed to own guns.

[SpinyNorman]

I don't know if this is still true or not, but you could just walk into any department store in Connecticut and pick up a purse sized can of pepper spray, but in the People's Republic of MA (PRM), women have to go through all this and a fee on top of it.

Nice of our fine legislators to offset the budget deficit on the backs of frightened women!

I wonder what that great thinker, Harrison Ford, thinks of this?

[jjm2111]

I don't know about Texas but in the 'hood in New Jersey it isn't uncommon for the 35 year old family man to carry a cane with him. Makes the gangstas a little more wary.

[jjm2111]

Oh, I would so love to go and heckle.

[jjm2111]

Ping. Here's one for the ping list.

[INSENSITIVE GUY]

Why should ANYONE PAY MONEY to exercise THEIR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS or ASK ANYONES PERMISSION?

[Joe Brower]

I am continuing to compile a list of FreeRepublic folks who are interested in RKBA topics. FReepmail me if you want to be added.

Conversely, if you want off my ping-list, let me know.

And my apologies for any redundant pings.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

If they were to drive south from Dedham on 95, take 295 south, get off at rte 123, third exit, go right off the ramp, the first plaza on the left has a hardware store.

They sell it on an endcap at the register, between the eyeglass repair kits and the mini-mag flashlights.

A thirty minute drive, mid day.

Not that I think Mace or pepper spray has any value, but you can get it.

[expatpat]

What caliber cane?

[elbucko]

..and that most important of all advice, how to dial 9-1-1.

That's so sad. It's just the number of the Coroner to notify them where to pick up the body.