self-defence

riamu

riamu

riamu

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Joined
10 Sep 2003
Posts
930
what are you allowed to carry in this country if you are walking in the street and you want to defend yourself if you are being attacked? Are you allowed to carry pepper spray or a penknife?
 
riamu said:
what are you allowed to carry in this country if you are walking in the street and you want to defend yourself if you are being attacked? Are you allowed to carry pepper spray or a penknife?
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I'm not sure about pepper spray but CS spray is classed as a firearm in the UK. A pen-knife you can carry, but I wouldn't tell the police it's for self defence unless you want it confiscated.
 
Anything you carry with a reason of self defence can be seen as an offensive weapon AFAIK. If you carry a cheese grater and claim it's for self defence you can be arrested. If you carry a knife, but are going fishing or hunting, then it's fine. It's the intent, not the item.

About knives, but I thought this explained the law pretty well http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8233
 
With penknifes you have to have a reasonable reason for having one, carrying a penknife at 9pm in central london isn't reasonable unless you live in a tree.
 
You are supposed to run away and alert your neighbourhood Police constable, he will then consider your situation in the light of other priorities.
 
RomanNose said:
With penknifes you have to have a reasonable reason for having one, carrying a penknife at 9pm in central london isn't reasonable unless you live in a tree.
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I've carried a small Swiss Army knife on me for the past 6 years (on my keys though). Have been searched by police many times, never been an issue.
 
Elixir said:
I'm not sure about pepper spray but CS spray is classed as a firearm in the UK. A pen-knife you can carry, but I wouldn't tell the police it's for self defence unless you want it confiscated.
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You can only carry knifes if you have good reason. Selfdefiance
is not good reason. if they dont think you have a good reason you can and people are charged.

You can carry an alarm. Or go do a self defence class like H2H
 
RomanNose said:
Probably because they can't be bothered, I imagine some don't really care about penknifes while others do.
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It's not about being bothered. Its about being able to charge them with breaking a law. There's nothing illegal about simply carrying a small non-locking blade.
 
asim18 said:
It's not about being bothered. Its about being able to charge them with breaking a law. There's nothing illegal about simply carrying a small non-locking blade.
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There is if you dint have a good reason. You've been lucky. Is it worth a criminal record. If you did use it in self defence you would have a massive issue with the law.
 
asim18 said:
It's not about being bothered. Its about being able to charge them with breaking a law. There's nothing illegal about simply carrying a small non-locking blade.
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Not always true, ones that are over 7.62cm are always illegal no matter what.
However penknifes can be illegal if you are carrying for selfdefence, if you are stopped for a search you should say you have a penknife as a tool and really put it in a bag.
 
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This should be ok.....just don't hide it down your pants and you'll be fine.
 
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