self defence weapons

Walter Mitty

Are any legal in ireland? Which is best?

SorGan

huah?

Boru.

The best self defence weapon is common sense. It's legal to own and use, costs you nothing and you can take it anywhere. As a reality based instrcutor it's the only self defence weapon I recomend.

Odysseus

Similar to Paul. Develop your mind its the most potent self defense weapon you will ever possess. Some form of MA will help that, pick one that suits you.

Pride Fighter

A walking stick.

SorGan

lift heavy weights, train in some form of effective combat, forget about weapons that can be taken from you and beaten over yer noggon:)

Walter Mitty

Boru. wrote: »

The best self defence weapon is common sense. It's legal to own and use, costs you nothing and you can take it anywhere. As a reality based instrcutor it's the only self defence weapon I recomend.

What reality based system do you teach? How do you use common sense in a situation where you cannot get away, I assume you mean run by common sense?

Walter Mitty

Pride Fighter wrote: »

A walking stick.

sound a very good idea, pretend to limp and rely on stick and then wallop em and run lol

Boru.

Walter Mitty wrote: »

What reality based system do you teach? How do you use common sense in a situation where you cannot get away, I assume you mean run by common sense?

Reality Based Personal Protection. You can nearly always get away. Common sense keeps you out a situations where you can't. Even then assuming a worst case scenario - carrying any weapon is illegal in this country for civilians and regardless the best weapon you have is still your brain.

Boru.

Walter Mitty wrote: »

sound a very good idea, pretend to limp and rely on stick and then wallop em and run lol

No. It sounds like a bad idea. What you're describing is in all likelyhood unjustified excessive use of force and assault. Not to mention you're encouraging an attack by faking a limp. Seriously?

Walter Mitty

Boru. wrote: »

No. It sounds like a bad idea. What you're describing is in all likelyhood unjustified excessive use of force and assault. Not to mention you're encouraging an attack by faking a limp. Seriously?

tough luck the scumbag should not start a fight. Your brain is not much good if it is in pieces on the pavement. Stick could be reasonable force if used as last resort. If reality is all about avoidance why do you need to run classes in it

Boru.

Simple, and perhaps this thread serves as an example, apparently, common sense isn't that common. For example some people think that faking a limp so they can hit someone with a walking stick is a practical, legal and justifiable answer and they want to carry weapons to protect themsevles. It's not, and they don't need to.

Part of teaching a reality based system is making people aware of reality. In this case - weapons are illegal, you don't need to carry any wepaons anyway, you are highly unlikely to be attacked, and if you followed the suggestion above you'd be faced with the legal reality of your actions.

Baggio...

What about a Maglite?

One major problem is accessing these implements in times of stress.

Also, people often tend to put to much focus on the improvised weapon. So if you are too busy fumbling for it, or it drops, you are likely to be pounded while trying to acquire (or reacquire) the weapon.

Baggio...

PS - Remember, you've got to be able to justify the use of any such weapon in the courts - even if it's technically not deemed a weapon.

Raze_them_all

carrying the walking stick around with your fake limp can be argues as premeditated as you have no need for it it will be seen as a weapon you took out to use. You'll get ****ed then

Roper

It seems clear to me that what you should do then is get someone to give you a real limp. Bingo, force justified- or yippee ki yay as they say in legalspeak.

Frankieboy

Baggio... wrote: »

What about a Maglite?

One major problem is accessing these implements in times of stress.

Also, people often tend to put to much focus on the improvised weapon. So if you are too busy fumbling for it, or it drops, you are likely to be pounded while trying to acquire (or reacquire) the weapon.

Reminds me of one time I was walking home from work with a mate. My mate was stopped/blocked by these two scummers and told to empty his pockets. He refused and one of them pulled out a screwdriver, while pulling it out he said, "how do you fancy a dart of a screwdriver then?" But while taking the screwdriver out he dropped it and had to pick it up, in the mean time the victim turned and walked swiftly away.

Pity he didn't knee him in the head when he was bent over.

Martin25

Carrying weapons can lead to long a jail term.
Get some decent self defence training , get into good shape, be aware of potiential threats and dangers,keep it simple ,direct and effective and use your brains and common sense.

Kila

Weapon law in Ireland is such that there are no self defence weapons that you can legally carry that won't get you in a heap of trouble if you use it. Aside from the list of specific weapons that you may not even possess, there is the following extract (often overlooked) from our legislation:

Firearms & Offensive Weapons Act wrote:

5. Where a person has with him in any public place any article intended by him unlawfully to cause injury to, incapacitate or intimidate any person either in a particular eventuality or otherwise, he shall be guilty of an offence.

6. In a prosecution for an offence under subsection (5), it shall not be necessary for the prosecution to allege or prove that the intent to cause injury, incapacitate or intimidate was intent to cause injury to, incapacitate or intimidate a particular person; and if, having regard to all the circumstances (including the type of the article alleged to have been intended to cause injury, incapacitate or intimidate, the time of the day or night, and the place), the court (or the jury as the case may be) thinks it reasonable to do so, it may regard possession of the article as sufficient evidence of intent in the absence of any adequate explanation by the accused.

7.

1. (Removed, not relevent)
2. A person guilty of an offence under subsection (4) or (5) shall be liable—
   
   i. on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months or to both, or
   
   ii.on conviction on indictment, to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or to both.

Basically - it's an offence to have anything intended to cause injury to another person (including that walking stick for that fake limp). Now obviously, before the pedants jump all over me, this doesn't mean you can't own a walking stick - it means that you can't carry one around with the intent to use it to defend yourself or hurt someone.

Also interesting is the fact that, according to the above, the prosecution in a case of injury with a weapon doesn't have to prove that you were carrying it with intent to hurt someone. And, in addition to that, if the court or jury believes that the situation is at all dodgy, simply having the item with you at all can be taken as proof enough of intent to injure with said item (in the absence of any adequate explanation by the accused).

Basically, what it boils down to is this:
If you are an electrician, and have with you a screwdriver (because you are wearing work overalls and heading to lunch or similar), and you whack someone with it when they attack you, you may (possibly) be able to argue that you had it with you because of your job, and that you just didn't think when you grabbed it from your pocket.
However, if you are an electrician, and you have with you a screwdriver (and it's the middle of the night, and you're on O'Connell St. in your best clubbing gear), you're going down, because there's no reasonable explanation as to why you might have such a thing.

Ultimately, you are never going to be able to fake a limp, beat someone with a stick, and then run away, because they'll consider the fact that you lied about the limp (and were obviously carrying the stick for the express purposes of injuring someone) and they'll simply invoke that section of legislation to prove intent. In addition, self defence kerambits (plastic, L-shaped things), kubotans, sticks, sprays, etc. may give a sense of security while walking around, but will ultimately land you in trouble if you use them.

If you want to win a fight, bring the biggest, baddest weapon you own. Hell, bring your car and run him over. But if you don't want to go to jail, then don't get yourself into a situation where you're carrying/using anything as a weapon. In my opinion, the best way to avoid that situation is to not carry ridiculous "self defence" weapons in the first place.

Dragan

Walter,

i believe your question was effectively answered. Personally i would rather not see people offering too much insight onto which weapon might be best to carry....at the end of the day it is illegal and i would rather not harbour conversation about converting everyday items into effective weapons, we are unaware of the status, position or age of the hundreds of lurkers who see this board everyday.

I may be wrong, but I also seem to recall you starting a thread about a road rage circumstance as well?

Roper

The man's name is Walter Mitty. What did you expect?

Nothingcompares

i was expecting a little humour

Pat Mustard

[quote Hell, bring your car and run him over.[/quote]

Suppose you don't have any common sense. Then the answer is a car. Legal, fast, inconspicuous, and lethal in the right/wrong hands.

Roper

I saw a movie once where a guy used a pen to like totally kill and maim this other guy. So go to Reads of Nassau Street and arm yourself.

Colm_OReilly

Right, this has descended into bollox. Thread closed.