help Tommy get his P.A.L.

A few days ago the RCMP called and got the reference check from my mom and dad for Tommy. You know, to make sure he wasn’t a psycho killer. :P

Getting closer…

Want to hear something crazy?

Tonight my husband was almost attacked by a drunk guy wielding a pocket knife!

Last week, Tommy quit his job and so he’s had his afternoons free. Today he went for groceries. I stayed home, looked after the boys, and worked on my medical transcriptioning stuff.

At about 7:30 or so he calls to tell us that he’ll be a bit later than he’d planned because there was an issue at the store and he had to give a statement to the police. He’d explain it when he got home.

I was thinking maybe there was a car accident, maybe someone passed counterfeit bills at the store, something like that – it never crossed my mind that he was almost attacked by a drunk guy.

He had finished paying and was walking through the parking lot behind the couple who had been in line in front of him. They had parked in the same area of the lot, just a few cars apart. Tommy is loading the groceries into the truck and the guy and girl are talking loudly, so he just glances over at them.

The guys sees Tommy look over and starts yelling, accusing Tommy of checking out his girlfriend. Tommy said by the very first word you could tell he was really drunk. But THEN the guy comes towards him and about 5 or 6 feet from him he pulls a pocket knife on Tommy!

My last entry on this goal was mentioning how on Saturday Tommy went to Buffalo and bought some stuff at an army surplus store. Two of the items were collapsible batons – one for me, and one for him. They were $50 each, plus duty, but I said that if we ever have to use them just ONCE they have paid for themselves. Neither of us ever thought we’d ever have to use them EVER, and I sure never thought they would pay for themselves this quickly.

When the guy pulled the pocket knife, Tommy grabbed his baton and flicked it open. Tommy was kind of boxed in, too, with no where else to go.

The woman started screaming to leave and the drunk guy, no longer the only one armed and unwilling to have a fair fight, lost his nerve and backed off. Then they left. (The woman was driving.)

But another guy who saw the whole thing had called the police. He approached Tommy to let him know they were on their way, so both men stuck around and gave statements.

What if he hadn’t gone to Buffalo just last week? We’ve both been carrying pocket knives since the camping trip last Thursday, but a baton could break an opponents wrist long before he’s close enough to stab you.

It’s funny in a way, coz my mom asked what we bought those batons for, and I said to be prepared.

I’ve been carrying my baton when I go for walks – again, with Tommy home in the afternoons, I’ve been able to take Shawn in the moby wrap while Gabriel and Tommy hang out. I sure hope that I never have to use mine!

Tommy’s paperwork came back, so he can send that out asap. In the meantime he tracked down an army surplus store and bought some ammo cases,complete with the lettering on the side – one is marked for a 50 caliber and the other is 556. Just for fun, too, he nipped across the border and found another army surplus store. He has always wanted a collapsible baton…

This weekend was Firearms Education School and Tommy – unsurprisingly – passed both the unrestricted (rifles/shotguns) and restricted (handguns) tests with flying colors. Now it’s 4 weeks before his test results come back from the government and then he can actually apply for the license.

Whew, it’s good to have this part over and done with. I’ve hardly seen him this weekend!

as I had hoped. We’re now looking at this around late-May or sometime in June. Tommy is starting a new shift at work, and it will be rotating Saturdays off, every Sunday off. We’ll see.

This is bound to become a controversial entry, especially as many of the people on this site seem to think disrespectful comments are okay so long as THEY are the ones posting them. (This means you – I have no qualms in deleting stupid comments and blocking your sorry butt. Blame it on the pregnancy hormones if you like.)

P.A.L. stands for Possesion and Acquisition Licence. We’re talking about guns here, folks.

This is something that Tommy wants and no, I do not mind. In order for him to get it, I have to approve and sign off on it, actually! Gun laws are a lot more stringent in Canada, so before you go flapping your mouth off (or your fingers, technically) about how “guns kill people” and then mentioning some stupid story that applies to only Americans, I recommend that you do some research into just what it takes for a Canadian citizen to LEGALLY acquire and keep a gun.

This takes a three day long classroom course complete with books and testing from an unrelated outside source. It costs money and takes time. There are forms and signatures and photo ids required. It’s a lengthy process.

This is an interesting development for me, because I was raised in a “no guns!” home and yet I married a Southern boy who was raised shooting squirrels for as long as he can remember.

I DO want him to get this though… I realize it is important with farm animals and a cougar in our area. (No joke.) So far we have had no trouble, but no trouble so far does not guarantee no trouble ever.