Don't let your gun permit expire

[12th Man]

My wife and I have some friends who moved to Belize. They're visiting us for New Years. Their neighbor in Belize is retired from Texas. He received his gun permit in Belize which is good for one year. He went to renew it two days after it expired. He was arrested immediately by the local police and charged with having firearms without a permit. It didn't matter it was just by two days. He's been told he's facing serious jail time. Apparently there is zero grace period. I told our friends to keep us up to date as I'm curious to see how this plays out.

[NuttyNed]

I guess, stay out of tat country, hey.

[Wambli Ska]

Welcome to the third world. My dad was living in the Dominican Republic for an extended period of time and wanted a carry permit which he was told he could not legally get in that country as a civilian. Undeterred he went to the local chief of police for an introductory conversation, and ultimately gave him a $10,000 check for his political campaign fund. The guy made him an honorary colonel of the police force which entitled him to…. carry a gun.

I suspect a conversation with local authorities will reveal a “way” out of this jam…

[CPJ 2.0]

Better advice is to not move to a third world poop hole.

[Bigslug]

Next time you feel the urge to "see the world", put on one of David Attenborough's documentaries.

[GrapeApe]

Next time you feel the urge to "see the world", put on one of David Attenborough's documentaries.

Sounds like a plan. Hell, there are some states I'd rather not travel to again

[12th Man]

I suspect of a lot of money will exchange hands and he'll get a reprieve. I told my buddy who works with a Jamaican. He told him the story of my buddies neighbor. He said it's a mandatory six months in jail in Jamaica.

[Centermass]

I’m not sure if you can categorize Belize as third world. It is firmly under western influence, making it first world. It also has closer ties to the Caribbean culture, than the Central American culture.
And… it is very friendly to US ex-patriots, specifically veterans.

What happened to your friend would have happened in almost any European country. Specifically Britain and Germany. I think moral of the story here is more of “ there’s no place like home..” seeing the world is great, but no where else has the liberties we have - regardless of what “world” the nation is

[Wambli Ska]

I’m not sure if you can categorize Belize as third world. It is firmly under western influence, making it first world. It also has closer ties to the Caribbean culture, than the Central American culture.
And… it is very friendly to US ex-patriots, specifically veterans.

What happened to your friend would have happened in almost any European country. Specifically Britain and Germany. I think moral of the story here is more of “ there’s no place like home..” seeing the world is great, but no where else has the liberties we have - regardless of what “world” the nation is

I’m a bit harsher than you in your assessments. Hell I think of the UsA as an up and coming third world country. Home is still a good place but I’m starting to feel like a minority everywhere I go…

[Justsomedude]

So I'm assuming that hopping on a plane and leaving the country is out of question?

[Centermass]

The original definition of the term, occurred during the Keenan Containment era of the Cold War. Alfred Sauvy Actually put it conceptual terms of socialism, capitalism, and others in one of his his op-ed articles.
The two meanings, geo political and economic, overlap.
Nations under western influence, and practice capitalism are first world.
Nations under Soviet/russian influence and practice struck socialism are second world.
The nations not under either influence are considered third world.

It just so happens that most of the third world nations were also underdeveloped in terms of industrial base, slow performing economy, and/or stricken with poverty. That correlation led the term to become derogatory in nature for any country we don’t consider to be up to par with the US.
The issue with this is the same as using a single testing method to judge intelligence, and in the words of Albert Einstein - if you judge a fish’s intelligence by its ability to climb a tree, it will forever think it is stupid.
The same goes with the method of measuring nations. Just because it is not western in terms of economics, politics, etc… doesn’t mean that it is less than..

Much of US arrogance is well earned. We went from a loose collection of colonies founded under varying ideals to a nation capable of projecting power in roughly 120 years. And, then we saved Europe from itself twice.
But the arrogance in judgment of other nation wealth and systems is sadly misplaced. You can’t compare the acts and systems of other nations against the US, because they weren’t developed in the same manner, with the same fabric of people. And, often, because of that, US ways don’t fit.

[Gila]

Next time you feel the urge to "see the world", put on one of David Attenborough's documentaries.

Sounds like a plan. Hell, there are some states I'd rather not travel to again

On my list that would be California, and my son and his family live there right now. He is looking for a way to leave, but is not in a hurry to do so yet...

[GrapeApe]

Cal, WA, OR, IL & NJ are 5 of the ones I'd prefer not to deal with again

[Zorba]

Don't forget New York!

[CPJ 2.0]

I can learn.
Maybe I was using the term incorrectly.

I’ll just say poop hole.

Lots of states fit that bill too. And cities.

[CPJ 2.0]

…

[jbp-ohio]

I can learn.
Maybe I was using the term incorrectly.

I’ll just say poop hole.

Lots of states fit that bill too. And cities.

Took a four hour drive along the easternmost section of the Ohio River Saturday. "Rust Belt' is definitely accurate.....

We usually go through East Liverpool to Pittsburgh. The bridge is closed for weld failures, so we followed the north bank of the Ohio all of the way around without crossing it. The number of houses that have missing shingles and/or missing gutters and/or gutter gardens, yet have $50,000 vehicles parked in the driveway.

[Centermass]

Didn’t mean to come off preachy. Went back and read that, and realized I sounded like Bill Bryson.

My history thesis was on how America’s lack of world understanding fed the cold war and allowed the Soviet Union suck us into regional quicksand around the world.