Q589: Are there any legal self defence products that I can buy?
The only fully legal self defence product at the moment is a rape alarm. These are not expensive and can be bought from most local police stations or supermarkets.
There are other self defence products which claim to be legal (e.g. non toxic sprays), however, until a test case is brought before the court, we cannot confirm their legality or endorse them. If you purchase one you must be aware that if you are stopped by the police and have it in your possession there is always a possibility that you will be arrested and detained until the product, it’s contents and legality can be verified.
However, accepting there is a lot of concern about street crime, we can try to clarify matters a little by putting forward the following points.
* You must not get a product which is made or adapted to cause a person injury. Possession of such a product in public (and in private in specific circumstances) is against the law.
* There are products which squirt a relatively safe, brightly coloured dye (as opposed to a pepper spray). A properly designed product of this nature, used in the way it is intended, should not be able to cause an injury.
* However, be aware that even a seemingly safe product, deliberately aimed and sprayed in someone’s eyes, would become an offensive weapon because it would be used in a way that was intended to cause injury.
* Any products bought from abroad have a greater chance of being illegal.
I had no idea what a “rape alarm” might be, so I looked it up. Apparently it’s just a handy portable gadget that makes a really loud noise.
So I’m good then. 🙂
My wife so wants to visit the UK but I have said no way. I will not set foot in the UK because the government has gone nuts with “knife control. Last year one of our friends was in London and was stupid enough to pull out a Swiss Army Knife to open a package from a store. Another person in the restaurant they were in called 999 and my friend spent the rest of the day in custody. When he was released it was with a stern warning minus the SAK. Added to the knife issue is the UK fetish for surveillance. These days there is one CCTV camera per every 11 citizens all through the country. As I have told my wife I’d rather read 1984 than live it.
Yeah, I knew about the knife thing. That was crazy enough, plus of course they’re a little down on anybody but government agents and armed robbers – but perhaps I repeat myself – possessing guns.
But I didn’t know that things had deteriorated to the point where if a woman thwarts a rape by bashing in her attacker’s head with a rock, that’s a serious crime – she’s either supposed to touch off her rape alarm and hope for the best or close her eyes and think of England.
That’s just crazy. Seriously, what’s the point of putting up with a government when it not only won’t defend its subjects, it forbids them from using any means at all to defend themselves?
Sorry, Joel. Your “noisemaker” might damage your assailant’s hearing. Friggin’ absurd!
Okay, now it’s official. The world has gone entirely crazy. It is a criminal act to defend my own life with any means at hand.
I am so very happy that most of us are living in our own version of Farnham’s Freehold. You, Joel, are teaching us much about living close to the edge of nowhere.
Vermont is looking better and better…
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The reasoning is simple. If the subjects defend themselves from violent criminals, they might one day defend themselves from a violent government. Can’t have that, now can we? Also if the subjects can defend themselves they might one day remember they do not need government.