rachels.haven's Journal

[Xerocles]

I won't do captive bolt then. I think I could handle killing it just by throating it but of course I'd rather not. I'd rather be humane, plus noise is a factor.
Several concerns on owning a fire arm here. My main one is as follows: The kids' doctors require you to disclose your firearm status. They write it down. It ends up in their state database. That makes me uncomfortable. They may not take away your guns, but give them any reason to take your kids and I'm sure they will. My kids are safe, healthy, stable, and happy. I wouldn't trust the state with them worth a goat duki.

My husband is mostly worried about his crazy kids somehow managing to get into it at any time of them living at home. He is also more center leaning in his views on politics (not left, not right) and I think he feels owning a gun will somehow push him right. BUT a gun is still just a tool though-a tool state agencies told me to get as they offer no protection for my children against their wild animals. It also, strangely enough, feels like caving to the wackadoodle lefters here to me. It's like they're saying, " don't want to be a good little indoor dwelling follower? Fine, be pushed into this box with other state declared "undesirables" so we can find ways to abuse you and tell you what to do better" which makes me realize why every farmer and sportsman around here that I've met seems sad and bitter. The state mistreats them by over taxing, loading them up with far too many laws they MUST follow or be punished, and not supporting them at all. But I digress.

So basically, it's complicated why we don't have a gun here. The simple of it is that I don't feel good about it here yet. We are licensed. When/ if the situation arises where we need one we will get one that day, if at all possible. Until then, I wield an ax handle from the ax collection the previous owner left. I may buy a baseball bat or keep my own small personal ax accessible. It's good for dispatching and inflicting major damage and not awkward but not too small. I keep it sharp.

Oddly enough, I'd feel more comfortable owning a gun in a place like TN, where I'm less likely to need one because the neighbors usually enjoy shooting or trapping or have simply already done the vermin dispatching because it's open season on vermin in general. The state is less hostile.

I can get my goats dispatched for me if I have to, no worries. Dwarves grow slowly anyway. I'd like them to be at least 50 lbs first, but I'd take 40. That may be more like 7-9 months rather than just a few. Saffron the lamancha's 9 or 10 week old wether is about 40-50 lbs NOW, for perspective. If the dwarves wethers reach weight by winter or early spring I could always book them then in the offseason when I see they're going to reach that point soon if I can't find someone to pay and do it for me. That slaughter house charges $40 to dispatch. I'd pay someone $40 to come to my house and dispatch one properly, or I'd be happy to bring them to the slaughter house and have them dispatch and bleed out and I can bring home and do the rest.

I'm a couple days late to this party, but I just gotta stick my big nose in here. The doctor asks if you have guns in the house? Seriously? I'd have to say "None of your D@#* business (and it isn't)....and as much as I hate to lie about ANYTHING..... if forced by law, I'd look them straight in the eye and LIE. Do they also ask if you drink alcohol, smoke pot, have extra-marital affairs or drive over the speed limit? Ultimate silliness.
Now, I am a self-professed "gun nut", but I never encourage anyone that they should own a gun. Personal choice. Your life, your decision.
BUT. One statement you made.
"When/ if the situation arises where we need one we will get one that day, if at all possible."
PLEASE, please, please...reconsider this. It's like saying, when I need to travel out of state, I'll buy a car.
Buy a gun, don't buy a gun. Like I said, your decision. But. If it's ever a possibility, do it NOW. Take additional classes to train yourself with THAT PARTICULAR GUN. And PRACTICE, on a regular basis.
It's like a teenager borrowing a friend's car, learning just enough laws to pass the driving test, and never driving again till they're 30 yrs old and buying a Corvette.
Guns and cars are most dangerous (to their owners and innocent bystanders) in the hands of those not trained and familiar with their proper use.
Apologies. I'm far from MA, and I don't have a dog in this fight. But as an American who values my right to own firearms, I must give sound counsel when I hear things like this. One untrained person having an "accident" gives the rest of us a bad name.

 

[rachels.haven]

@Xerocles , you'd get your kids taken away here. Valid point. They do not ask about any kind of drug use in the home or a stable family.

BUT. One statement you made.
"When/ if the situation arises where we need one we will get one that day, if at all possible."

There is some background on this I did not include. My husband has some gun experience. He doesn't personally want to own one, but as a teen/young adult he enjoyed scouting and target shooting with specific other kinds of guns. I do not like the gun he's named off that he knows. I want my dad to come down and go with me to pick up the two guns he's picked out for me that he has found is good for killing things. He picked me out a "kid level" .22, and one he thinks is better for dispatching things. He has used them before and will teach me to use and maintain them like he taught my brothers after I left home. My Dad won't be down for a while, but "if the situation arises..." we'll go get the one my husband knows OR I'll go talk to his cousin the next town over, who has already offered to help. But I trust my dad on this more. He's found the crappy ones that broke or he doesn't like and good ones, and the ones he's used the most and the way he uses them isn't very different from what I'd be using them for.

If we move this will cease to be an issue. I could get a firearm and not even mention it because the kind we need is not really a big deal anywhere else. It's not like I want/need an assault rifle here. It would be for target practice for accuracy, and killing goats and coyotes. The end. (and you know what? It's come to my attention as my kids get older they are TERRIFIED of anything vaguely dangerous...like butter knives and mouth wash. My parental fears are starting to tone down on that front. They'll just never be around it by their own choice until they are old enough to not be terrified and i think that's just fine. The questions at the doctors' office is inappropriate and invasive and probably state policy since he asked for both kids appointments and took note of the answer.)

Keeping a gun unloaded, clean, and locked up separate from the ammo is not a huge deal. I really don't want to get pushed into the next level of scrutiny from the state though until I have to though. My kids are happy, healthy, well adjusted, and clean, but I butcher my own animals, don't wear makeup, I look very young, and I dress in hooded sweatshirts and jeans as my wardrobe and not mall clothes, and don't speak the new england "language" here. They could probably drum up some excuse if they wanted to take my boys away. Sometimes my boys walk outside in chicken poop with no shoes, for example (and then I get to wash their feet ). Or I let them play outside in the fenced in yard unsupervised sometimes as 5 and 7 year olds (sort of). Or they drink unpasteurized milk and cheese, would be a legitimate one (milk from goats tested for milk-borne diseases, I might add). We all do. And personally I feel it's safer than the store milk and cheese but that's a whole other can of worms.

I will probably get a firearm this fall to do any wethers that don't sell. My husband has the option of getting "legal insurance" from work or just a lawyer period, and we are willing to do that to prevent the state from jumping up in our business if we decide to exercise our right to own a gun for the previously stated purposes.

 

[Baymule]

That is just messed up.

 

[Xerocles]

@Xerocles , you'd get your kids taken away here. Valid point. They do not ask about any kind of drug use in the home or a stable family.

There is some background on this I did not include. My husband has some gun experience. He doesn't personally want to own one, but as a teen/young adult he enjoyed scouting and target shooting with specific other kinds of guns. I do not like the gun he's named off that he knows. I want my dad to come down and go with me to pick up the two guns he's picked out for me that he has found is good for killing things. He picked me out a "kid level" .22, and one he thinks is better for dispatching things. He has used them before and will teach me to use and maintain them like he taught my brothers after I left home. My Dad won't be down for a while, but "if the situation arises..." we'll go get the one my husband knows OR I'll go talk to his cousin the next town over, who has already offered to help. But I trust my dad on this more. He's found the crappy ones that broke or he doesn't like and good ones, and the ones he's used the most and the way he uses them isn't very different from what I'd be using them for.

If we move this will cease to be an issue. I could get a firearm and not even mention it because the kind we need is not really a big deal anywhere else. It's not like I want/need an assault rifle here. It would be for target practice for accuracy, and killing goats and coyotes. The end. (and you know what? It's come to my attention as my kids get older they are TERRIFIED of anything vaguely dangerous...like butter knives and mouth wash. My parental fears are starting to tone down on that front. They'll just never be around it by their own choice until they are old enough to not be terrified and i think that's just fine. The questions at the doctors' office is inappropriate and invasive and probably state policy since he asked for both kids appointments and took note of the answer.)

Keeping a gun unloaded, clean, and locked up separate from the ammo is not a huge deal. I really don't want to get pushed into the next level of scrutiny from the state though until I have to though. My kids are happy, healthy, well adjusted, and clean, but I butcher my own animals, don't wear makeup, I look very young, and I dress in hooded sweatshirts and jeans as my wardrobe and not mall clothes, and don't speak the new england "language" here. They could probably drum up some excuse if they wanted to take my boys away. Sometimes my boys walk outside in chicken poop with no shoes, for example (and then I get to wash their feet ). Or I let them play outside in the fenced in yard unsupervised sometimes as 5 and 7 year olds (sort of). Or they drink unpasteurized milk and cheese, would be a legitimate one (milk from goats tested for milk-borne diseases, I might add). We all do. And personally I feel it's safer than the store milk and cheese but that's a whole other can of worms.

I will probably get a firearm this fall to do any wethers that don't sell. My husband has the option of getting "legal insurance" from work or just a lawyer period, and we are willing to do that to prevent the state from jumping up in our business if we decide to exercise our right to own a gun for the previously stated purposes.

Children walking around outside barefoot? QUICK! Take those kids away and lock the parents up! Heresy! Madness! LOL
Again, apologies for butting in where advice was not sought. It sounds like you have your act together (except for living in a ridiculous state like that). Best of luck to you, and one more bit of unasked for advice. MOVE! C'mon down to SC. We'll ask at the border if you have a gun, and if you say "no" we'll give you one. But keep in mind, we're the only state in the country to get an "F" in social distancing rules.

 

[rachels.haven]

Someday! Probably sooner than anyone wants to be uprooted (even me). We've got to finish our chapter here. A new long commute to work in heavy traffic would be the deal breaker for my husband.

The lobster here was good. Tastiest Mass-resident I ever ate.

 

[rachels.haven]

All 34 chickens including the 4 free roosters sold today. Add was up for 3 days. There sure is a market for pullets here.

Time to clean out the coop and prepare for the chicks on June 15 and the following week (if I don't cancel one).

We're down to silkies and ducks for birds for now.

 

[chickens really]

I enjoyed your introduction to this journal. Was awesome.
Hello from Alberta, Canada.
I am birdless. Too much work with cold winters that last 7 or 8 months.

 

[Mike CHS]

That is just messed up.

I noted about three years ago (in both SC and TN) that they now also ask if you ever suffer from depression. I would be surprised if this wasn't tied to the gun question also.

 

[rachels.haven]

Yeah, here you're not allowed to handle a gun period if you have a history of mental illness or have been institutionalized from what I understand either. I'm very lucky not to have any issues there. Several of my siblings and mother have had to lean on meds for mental health before. I don't think they'd be allowed to touch a gun here.

 

[Xerocles]

Yeah, here you're not allowed to handle a gun period if you have a history of mental illness or have been institutionalized from what I understand either. I'm very lucky not to have any issues there. Several of my siblings and mother have had to lean on meds for mental health before. I don't think they'd be allowed to touch a gun here.

I'm pretty sure the mental institutional thing is federal, asked on the mandatory federal background questionnaire (4473), and technically required to be reported by each state to the feds (though not always adhered to...i.e. Look back to Nov 2017 to see how even the military did not report properly). Though in Mass, they probably report hangnails if they think it will keep someone from getting a gun.