Soldato
If you're going to make something up, you could at least make it slightly believable
Happy to be proven wrong if you've got a link to the article
Should UK self-defence laws be reformed?
- Thread starter Stu999
- Start date
If you're going to make something up, you could at least make it slightly believable
Happy to be proven wrong if you've got a link to the article
If you're going to make something up, you could at least make it slightly believable
Happy to be proven wrong if you've got a link to the article
Good call out.
Associate
A simple wooden crossbow is 5,000-year-old technology which requires no special skills or tools and only basic materials to make. I made one from scratch when I was 13-years-old which had a range of over 100 metres and would have been quite capable of killing someone. To bring them under the Firearms Certificate licensing system would be frankly pathetic and would make us a laughing stock around the world.
A new compound/recurve crossbow which has similar impact power to a .22 LR cartridge (such as those used for hunting deer/wild boar in the USA) costs north of £1,000, is about 2.5 feet wide and almost 4 feet long, in other words it has terrible concealability (so no good for use in a fight between street gangs). Its rate-of-fire is about 1 bolt per minute and you need a windlass to load it (unless you are built like Arnie).
Crossbows would only be good for one shot in a fight and if you license them you would have to license all the other bows too. An experienced archer can shoot off 20-30 aimed arrows from a longbow to the crossbow's one, so which is the more lethal weapon?
Soldato
I agree with you about the crossbow, though there as been people using them to kill others.
I will bet nobody as gone out with pepper spray/cs gas with the intention to kill someone.
I'm advocating that pepper spray and/or cs gas be decriminalised as it is in some European countries.
I think it would help break the cycle of knife crime.
Soldato
Pepper spray and similar would just be the go to for assaulting someone I reckon.
Unless you're ready to follow up with force, if you don't deploy accurately, you're faced with someone even more agro than before, potentially impaired by your own use of said spray.
The solution is a functional police service and legal system, but it's easier to arm plebs I guess
Unless you're ready to follow up with force, if you don't deploy accurately, you're faced with someone even more agro than before, potentially impaired by your own use of said spray.
The solution is a functional police service and legal system, but it's easier to arm plebs I guess
A functional police force would be great but doesn’t solve the self-defence problem since they’re not always going to get there in time to stop you getting stabbed / beaten up / whatever.
Soldato
Outside of urban ghettos it's a vanishingly small problem. I've lived in London most of my life and have been mugged, stabbed and beaten up... Not once. Yes it happens, probably because there are no consequences and little chance of being caught
go out with can in jacket get in fight disable person you in fight then do whatever you want to them. no..it shouldnt be decriminilized. how many would carry it over a crossbow. 99 percent of the people vs 1 crossbow person. also people mentioning cross bows its not the bow so much its the bolt. used. some have razor type tips that will kill you quicker than a bullet.
Associate
But you can only get one shot off before the time-consuming and activity-occupying reloading step. For assassinating someone at close/medium range in a private place I suppose they would be reasonably practical, but there are many legal/homemade weapons that would be just as effective in that scenario.
There was a mass-shooting by a Danish bloke with a longbow in Norway back in 2021, where he killed 5 and wounded 2 in a supermarket. He could never have managed that with a crossbow.
Yes, pepper spray is clearly a non-lethal weapon designed to immobilise someone. A late twenties American colleague of mine from North Carolina, who was working in the UK for a year, used to carry it in her handbag. She mentioned it once when we were discussing a local violent crime incident. I warned her that it is actually illegal to even possess it in the UK let alone carry it in a public place, but she preferred to have it in case something happened. She didn't get done by the Police for having it.
I think vulnerable people should be allowed to carry pepper spray for self-defence use, but there's zero chance of the authoritarian British government ever allowing that.
You can legally carry a certain brand of smart water spray in the UK. It is neon bright, has the consistency of paint, is unpleasant if it gets in your eyes and will mark an attacker's skin for days after they have been sprayed.
Soldato
Coupled with investment in mental health and other local services to help reduce the problem at source.
Of course all of the above will never happen because it requires long term planning by a competent and non-corrupt government along with unpopular policies (such as raising taxes to pay for said services)
Define: "vulnerable"
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Soldato
I don't think the level of taxation would need to change if the first problem was solved
Associate
Elderly people (over 70), seriously disabled people and women living/working in areas with high rates of rape/sexual assault would seem to me to constitute vulnerable people.
Soldato
Not long term maybe, but public services have been cut back so much over the last few years that it would need some serious investment to get back on track
Soldato
So not the teens/young adults (both male and female) who are statistically the most likely to be the victims of violent crimes (especially if living in "dodgy" areas)?
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You’re probably right about that. I should stop watching some of the news / not watch it as often.
Associate
Well, it could be done on a case-by-case basis too in violent areas. If someone is at-risk of being attacked by a gang they could apply for permission to carry it. But without some kind of checking system in place then you would simply be arming all the gang-bangers with pepper spray.
by giving people weapons you just create more issues. ive lived worked in these areas it wont work. sadly its just humans in bad conditions which create bad issues. it wont ever be solved as there will always be bad areas or conditions cause of poverty mainly and bad education.
Associate
I've had to live in some violent ****holes too. It's also a question of how dangerous the permitted weapon is, it's not like allowing someone to carry a Smith and Wesson .38 Special. Pepper spray is only capable of temporarily preventing someone from attacking you and then running after you, which can allow you to escape from them. Protecting the lives of the innocent is a worthy cause even if it does cause some unintended problems.
Soldato
As I see it the regular law abiding citizen is a sitting duck as criminals approach them.
I can understand people carrying knives. I would if I lived in a violent neighbourhood. I know of taxi drivers who have a cosh-like weapon under the front seat.
If the person is self aware of their own vulnerability they are going to carry something.
en.m.wikipedia.org
I can understand people carrying knives. I would if I lived in a violent neighbourhood. I know of taxi drivers who have a cosh-like weapon under the front seat.
If the person is self aware of their own vulnerability they are going to carry something.
Pepper spray - Wikipedia
you not thinking from what 99 percent of the people carrying it will actually do. have pepper spray cs gas use it against people to then do whatever they want to them. thats why its not allowed. robberies muggings would go up 1000 percent.