Reply #101: Then the machete grabbers would be howling to ban them.

[-..__...]

Think I exaggerate? Think again...

(Fortunately, this piece of legislative nonsense never passed)

Oh... and FWIW, when the sponsor and cosponsors of this rubbish aren't looking to regulate harvesting tools, they spend a good portion of their time salivating over gun control laws.

By Mr. Shannon, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 1384) of Charles E. Shannon, Timothy J. Toomey, Jr., David P. Linsky and Paul J. Donato for legislation relative to the possession of a machete. Public Safety and Homeland Security


The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Seal of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
In the Year Two Thousand and Five.
AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE POSSESSION OF A MACHETE

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1.

Subsection (b) of section 10 of chapter 269 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2002 Official Edition is hereby amended by inserting after the word “inches”, in line 67, the following word:- , machete.

SECTION 2. Said subsection (b) of said section 10 of said chapter 269, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by adding the following paragraph:-

For purposes of this section, “machete” means “a heavy knife at least 18 inches in length and having a blade at least 1.5 inches wide at its broadest measurement. This subsection shall not apply to carrying a machete on one’s person or in a vehicle if the machete is carried for the purpose of cutting vegetation or if the machete is being transported for the purpose of cutting vegetation. In a prosecution of a violation of this subsection, there shall be a permissible inference that such carrying of a machete is not for the purposes of cutting vegetation. Such presumption may be rebutted.

Any individual who requires a machete for the purposes of cutting vegetation shall register the machete with the local police department on an annual basis and, upon payment of an appropriate annual registration fee as determined by the local granting authority, shall be issued a permit authorizing him to possess the machete solely for the purposes of cutting vegetation.

http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/senate/st01/st01384.htm