Do you cary a weapon on your tractor?

[Ozarker]

That would be a tough one for Holden. I haven't seen any evidence of sense, common or uncommon, from him.

As for CCW in MO, the real problem is trying to get the truth about it out to most people. So far, no media outlet seems willing to be truthful. For example, just because Mo doesn't issue CCW permits, many people are under the mistaken impression that it is illegal to carry a concealed weapon in Missouri. Not so. It is perfectly legal under many conditions and no permit is required, Also, there is no age limit nor is there any requirement for training. Mo is almost as liberal as Vermont when it comes to concealed carry. The only problem is that most people don't have a clear understanding of the law and, for those cases where it might be illegal, the penalties are severe.

But you can get a permit if you know how. Take St Louis for example. All that is required to carry a concealed firearm in St Louis is a letter from the Mayor. You can bet that all his buddies have those letters.

Outside of the city, everywhere else in the state, all that is required is a commission from the county Sheriff. Anyone can get a commission, no training required, and Sheriffs generally issue commissions to friends and local businessmen if they ask.

Then there is a long laundry list of exceptions in the law that exempt people from the law. Anyone in this state can legally carry a concealed weapon. All they have to do is get an exemption or engage in an exempted activity.

Just travel through the state. That is an exempted activity for which anyone, from anywhere in the world, can legally carry a concealed weapon in Missouri.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Oh Neil, /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

<font color=blue>If I somehow inferred that you guys can't be trusted than I apologise.</font color=blue>

There's no apology needed. They can't be trusted!!!!/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[Ozarker]

Depends on where you are if there is a season for hogs or not. If there is just one, and I doubt if there is just one in the area, you might be able to get your county animal control people to trap it and move it.

 

[dmccarty]

GarageSmoker,

Call up you local Wildlife Commission/Agency and ask them
when you can hunt/kill the hog. In some states hogs are
considered lifestock and are the property of the landowner.
So you MIGHT not wait for the hog to be in "season." AND
if you can show that the hog is a pest sometimes you can
kill them out of season.

Ask you wildlife people.

Beware of boars. I saw one in Florida a couple of years ago
and I thought it was a black bear. It was LARGER than some
bears I have seen. They ain't an animal to mess around with
if you don't know what you are doing and have the weapon to
take them down....

Good Luck,
Dan

 

[GarageSmoker]

Dan..Will do. If you look back to the post that started this I think I said it was big. Just lumbering through 4 - 5 foot weeds I only saw it's back since whatever it kept it's head down. My builder said the boars were black so I guess they could be confused with a bear if yo only saw it's back. Whatever it was it is big. Feed a buch of us I expect. Better order that new smoker quick!

GS

 

[njrqs]

<font color=blue>--ah--gender challenged group singing at the Olympics </font color=blue>

Now this is more important than guns

Who the hell were they ???

 

[patrickg]

GarageSmoker, Since I rarely leave home without it, I have it with me when driving a tractor. When in "snake country" I swap magazines and load shot shells into the .45ACP auto. Regardless of all the philosophy, statistics and wishful thinking expressed to date on this subject...

If you receive proper training and chose to carry a gun safely AND it makes you feel better, more secure, or whatever, then do so... IN A SAFE MANNER.

Let's temporarily leave "Jurrasic Park", "The Terminator", "Gunfight at OK Corral", and the like behind and briefly visit reality. What is there in your area that would attack a man on a running tractor? What would it take to deter that threat? What are you likely to encounter when dismounted from the tractor and what would it take to counter that threat?

What would you anticipate ever seeing besides: Single rabid animals, dog pack, black bear, boar, snake, panther, or a dangerous person? What is the minimum deterent for these threats that would give you a margin of safety and confidence. Personally I would be content with my .45 automatic loaded with shot shells. Every threat listed above except possibly an armed person has to get close to harm you. A few shotshells in the face at near point blank range will either deter the attacker or blind it so that it has a hard time finding you. Assuming you aren't the target of Ninja attacks or crazed gun toting killers, you should be able to deter most anything that would come along. Note: I say deter, not kill in an instant or drop it in its tracks.

Nothing I have said is to contradict anything anyone said about combat shooting in tense situations. Yes it is possible but very unlikely anything will charge you and try to kill you and yes if it did most folks, even the best gunners among us would be bitten before they cleared leather. That isn't my point. If something is around and DOESN"T run off so fast you can't ID it, then what? A shot shell makes a big bang, just like a "war shot" and isn't going to bounce off a rock and hit your wife a hundred feet away hidden by brush. The big bang wil help you assess the threat. If it hightails it when you shoot a warning shot, fine. If not, then you are prepared to get tougher.

If you chose to carry a second magazine with "real" bullets in it you could dispatch any blinded attacker quickly and humanely. Shot shells are pretty effective in sizes above .38 special such as .357 mag, .44 mag, .45ACP and can be purchased from commercial off the shelf sources that will auto feed flawlessly in most .45 autos and of course with a revolver there is no difficulty.

The training required to handle a pistol safely so you don't shoot your wife, yourself, or the tractor is not that extensive. You don't have to be a "master combat gunner" to use a pistol as I described above with a great degree of safety. There is no reason why you couldn't mount a holder for a LARGE pepper spray canister on your tractor and or carry one on your belt and use discretion in an individual situation regarding choosing pepper spray or pistol.

Fishing in Alaska, in Griz territory, I carried a 3 inch magnum 12 ga pump with pistol grip and extended magazine hanging upside down in the middle of my back so as not to interfere with fishing. I loaded with 2 saboted slugs then "000" buck shot (2 rnds) then filled her up the rest of the way with "00" buck. My theory was that I could take time to aim a slug, at first, then progress toward a bigger spread for close in action charged with adreniline. I also carried a large pepper spray as first choice if Mr. Bear should give me a chance to choose it. Luckily, I never had a close encounter of the Griz kind as I really didn't want to have to shoot one of those magnificient beasts BUT as my mother, wife and a friend were fishing with me I felt responsible for their safety as well. The point being, I felt comfortable, I felt prepared, and could have taken steps to escolate the severity of my actions as may have been appropriate.

If you choose to arm yourself for protection against snakes, boar, or whatever do get safety training in the use of the weapon you choose, giving consideration in that choice that your needs for self protection are not the same as a hunter's requirements.

Best of luck to you and please let us know what you decide.

Patrick

 

[wasabi]

GS - I'll answer your question. Probably more of an answer than anyone wants to hear, but here goes....

I do "carry" on the tractor and also on the kawasaki mule on our property and I also require my entire family (Renee' and I have six kids between us) to do the same (on the mule...no one else yet has tractor rights). I'll tell you why:

To me, a firearm is a tool. One of its purposes can be to dispatch a quick message (three quick shots) over fairly long distances that help is needed. I hope we never hear that, but if one of the kids gets in a jam with the mule, I get in a fix with the tractor, or some such, we all know the drill....Now we could pack blanks to cover that, but it would defeat the next purpose, which pretty much covers all the rest of the bases...an outside threat, however remote (no pun intended) that might be...

I'll go into that, but first I'm going to digress. (why is no one that knows me surprised?)....I know that political discussions here are thinly allowed, but I've heard no lobbying against philosophoical ones, ....and this IS a largely philiosophical issue.

Some of you may find this annoying...some of you may relate. WHarv may do backflips and land on his feet with Hussie on his shoulder for finding a philosophically kindred spirit, albeit not a Texas based one....

Although I believe in the second amendment, this is not really about that. I don't see liberal whinings as a serious threat to that, given today's sentiments....

I don't carry in my street clothes....and rarely in my car...I simply don't want to. Lately I've been trying to lovingly convince (although it usually comes across as a lecture) my 20 year old son, who wears his pants down low and sometimes talks in gutteral mumbles, as to myriad reasons not to (and hope to God he doesn't ever follow through with the want to part...). I don't want to even go there.

You see, like a lot of you here, I too have been through a lot, albeit perhaps in a different "format" than some of you.... Nonetheless, among the hard fought "truths" I've come to accept is one that many in life simply won't accept.....that is: "it is never outside of you..."

Believe me you, I had to really think about that one. Long and hard.....it requires an absolute acceptance of responsibility for the role we play in every aspect of what we do, and everything we are involved in...including our potential defense. Now. I'll admit that it is possible I've just been too long away from living near a city, or perhaps I'm in denial regarding the potential for real threat, but I don't look at it that way. I think truths are truths....and this is one I find no fault with deep down...I view it kind of like the getting a cold thing. I only get them when I have really allowed myself to get run down because if stresses and such...otheriwse, they don't mess with me...

Basically, despite some potential for terrorist threats, I don't believe there is anything in our personal life situation that will significantly threaten us unless "we" get really out of line and "attract" it....Further, I am absolutely convinced that the woods are far safer than the streets! (Mind you our property is in active black bear territory).

That said, while I'm not seriously worried about bears, if the cause arose, would want the firepower to stop an animal of that size. Snakes, with a modicum of education, are not scary. Panthers sightings, around our territory, are rarer than homing pigeons...I'd be far more concerned about a pack of stray dogs, but they are not likely to survive as remote as we are. Errant humans, incapable of reason, who may need to be shot, are, in our remote NC county, undoubtedly an endangered spicies...I think you all get the point....

Guns still freak me out enough for me to have enormous respect for them, but I enjoy occasional shooting. I grew up running around the woods with a 22. I don't want my kids to not know how guns work.

My basically passivist philosophy does not stand in the way of my hunting nor having a loaded shotgun on the farm, nor a pistol on the mule or the tractor....and one thing is certain....our family knows how the guns are loaded, shot, cleaned and where they are kept...and they will all be afforded the opportunity to become capable marksmen if they so choose!

To quote an oft used old adage, "I'd rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it."

 

[bgott]

"If I somehow inferred that you guys can't be trusted than I apologise."

We can't, ask the British! /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

 

[Wingnut]

Chuck, Chuck, Chuck .... you know you're still my favorite Liberal, don't you?
<font color=blue>I wasn't aware that the Swiss carried concealed weapons</font color=blue>
I guess that depends on what your definition of "concealed is". Sorry ... couldn't resist using a liberal line.
I wasn't talking about concealed weapons at any time ... the thread started about guns on tractors ... my opinion was it shouldn't be necessary .... then it went to weapons ... and crime ... and concealed weapons. Concealment isn't something I care about .... I guess it's better if they're not all out in plain view ... which is why the cops now have holsters making it a little easier for their guns to be taken and used against them .... but, personally, I just have a problem with gun grabbers ... I'm not an advocate for or against CCW.
Do old folks our age wander around with guns? Yep ... hunting, plinking, just because they like to hold them .... I bet there are more shotguns in Europe than we have here ... used to be more in the UK before the gun-grabbers took over.
The Swiss mandated home guard covers ... if I remember correctly and I'll be happy to be corrected, ... 18 to 60. Do you think that the 61 year olds toss their guns?
OK ... now ... since the worse case of violence I heard about today was 2 drunks in (Indiana, I think) who chased down and ran over a motorcyclist with their car/pick-up this week (after a bar argument ... I'd like to propose that we either ban cars, pickups or bars (or maybe drunks). Whatdya think?