[DanMiller]

My wife (late 60’s) and I (early 70’s) live on our secluded thirteen acre farm in a very rural area up in the mountains of the western part of the Republic of Panama. It is very difficult for a gringo to get a firearm permit here and it can take years. I have a BB pistol, for which no permit is currently required. It looks at a distance of about three meters something like a real pistol.

The roads are dirt and the nearest police station is about twenty KM away; they often have insufficient gasoline for their car. Our nearest neighbor is about three KM away by road. Were we attacked in our home, we would be on our own. Fortunately, we have security lights and three loud, large and loyal dogs who sleep on their own mattresses in our bedroom. They would alert us. Would my air pistol be sufficient to deter a burglar or worse? Our spray bottle of ammonia water? Pepper spray? I rather doubt it but since that’s all we can get we’d have to find out if such a situation presented itself.

Please, don’t allow it to be that way in the United States.

[Venturer]

I might add that a bucket of lye boiling on the stove is a great deterrent.

An old colored lady told me she always kept it there in her kitchen, ready for any invader.

[marktwain]

I was able to obtain permits for 5 firearms when I was in Panama. It took a little less than a year, but I was employed by the U.S. Army at the time (mid to late 1980’s. I am sorry to hear that it takes so much time there now. Could a lawyer expedite matters for a “fee”?

[tractorman]

My advice is if all you have is a BB gun, aim for the head, preferably the eyes, and may the Lord bless you.