Hi friends!
…an interesting topic.
For my father’s day gift, my wife purchased a TRUPER machete model U.S.A. : 33178 with an 18 inch, double edged blade, at Wall Mart for about fourteen dollars. Its back is a saw blade …thus double edged. The machete is made in China, but it seems that it will be adequate enough. But, I live in Mexico City. Most of you may not have experienced living in a genuine, oppressive country such as Mexico. It is strange. In regard to weapons, all edged weapons are sold openly and that includes Chinese made switch blades, but if you are apprehended in public by an “authority” and you have with you a blade longer than two and one half inches, a number of things may happen. It may be confiscated and you may be cited with a note that gives you the opportunity to go to the local “Delegacion” to explain why you had it and to ask that it be returned it to you. Or, the blade, if it’s a good one, and even if it’s technically legal, may be confiscated and you will not see it again. Or, you may be detained for having the weapon and even arrested, and so on. What ensues if you are apprehended with a blade is entirely at the discretion of the officer, or the officers, at the scene. Interestingly, in Mexico, the question of whether or not machetes are illegal weapons is unresolved. Machetes are part of the culture, in so much as, they are needed for daily work in rural areas, and sometimes machetes are openly brandished by many rural demonstrators when they congregate in the capital, Mexico City, to voice their grievances.
But, the primary difference between Mexico and the U. S. is that in the U. S. you are allowed to defend yourself, and in Mexico it is not legal to defend yourself – regardless of written ‘laws’ to the contrary. In Mexico, if you succeed in taking a life on your own property - in self-defense - then, in Mexico …your best option may be to remove the body from your home. That is a gruesome, risky, traumatic scenario. But in Mexico if the “authorities” know of your act you will be detained …and even tried …and the outcome will not be certain. And regardless of the outcome, the expenses may be prohibitive.
Even if you are in some mundane altercation and things get somewhat violent, then, the ‘law’ is regarded as a “reference point” by the “authorities” and the outcome is always uncertain. The outcome may, or may not, favor you Every written law in Mexico ends with the same stipulation, “And that is the law, unless the Judge deems otherwise” (!). (Trail by jury does not exist in Mexico.) There is scant certainty in those regards. That is why seventy percent of violent crimes in Mexico go unreported, and of all reported violent crimes…ninety percent of them are unsolved!
(By contrast, civil cases are - generally - followed through in a formal and adequately procedural manner.)
All guns are forbidden and are almost as illegal as hand grenades and full automatics.
Consider yourselves fortunate that you live in a country where you have the right to defend yourselves if need be. And consider yourselves very lucky, that even though you may have too many laws …you do know, at least with some certainty, where you stand in regard to them.
You all be well!
Yours, Reed
