Preparedness for when

[Deleted User]

Weather has been rubbish here today.

Rain, hail and snow, pretty much all day, and now, thunder.

GreyQueen

:)We've had lovely blue skies for most of the day.

nuatha

fuddle wrote: »

There would be things we could use in the kitchen or tool box I expect. I'm just wondering if it's niave of us to not have something to hand upstairs etc. We don't prepare for an intrusion at all. Do preppers think we should? I suppose it would depend where lived. GQ do you keep stuff to hand in shoebox towers?

Having spent a substantial chunk of my life as a martial artist is the principle reason there are weapons in my house. The broadsword and quarter staves are from studying medieval combat forms for film choreography. Since they're here I can either bury them in cupboards or have them on display, generally I prefer the latter. I didn't purchase them to have in case of home intrusion.
There's a selection of walking canes, one dress, one evening dress and a day cane in my bedroom as they complement outfits I sometimes wear. Again, they weren't bought for defence - actually they were bought because I have a damaged hip joint and long days on my feet can be painful - from time to time I'm involved in events where I'll be in Edwardian dress and the canes fit that role and support my hip.
Relying on something to defend yourself that you don't know and understand is a way to get hurt, quite often with the very thing you would have used to defend yourself. If you're upstairs, get everybody in the same room, barricade the door and phone the police. There is nothing in your house more precious than your lives.

Do the same self denfense laws apply in the home i.e. resonable force against unjust threat? I suppose an unarmed potential robber stood at the bottom of the stairs with a knife jabbed somewhere would bring a lot of trouble to my door if they do. Anyone able to clarify?

You must act reasonably and in good faith, and you must stop acting when the threat is over. There is no difference in the law as regarding being in your own home or anywhere else - there has been some discussion about relaxing the constraints of the law when you are in your own home, as far as I'm aware this change isn't likely to happen - and I don't think it should.
I am not a lawyer, I have looked into this as it pertains to me and have read both the Acts and the official guidance on these matters.
One thing to bear in mind, a burglar during the commission of a crime can still use the defence of self defence if met with unreasonable force or it the victim of the burglary acted without good faith. Its a nightmare waiting to happen and the best way to avoid it is to try to avoid the situation.
Good security makes a home invasion far less likely, vigilance makes getting caught up in a deteriorating situation less likely. Not getting your phone out of your pocket when asked the time makes that phone snatch less likely.
Remember not doing these things just means lots of paperwork, and I hate paperwork

GreyQueen wrote: »

At least once a week I am carrying a 5ft longbow around this city in its cloth tube, as I to and fro from archery class. And often get asked if it's a fishing rod. Probably going to be saying yes to that, from now on, and hoping that people don't twig that there is a cyclindrical carry-tube for arrows slung across my back.

I've carried swords in a cloth bag slung over a shoulder (and not even caused a blink when a PC asked me what I was carrying).

Re what is allowable as self-defence, I am no legal expert but I believe that your response should be proportionate to the threat. The difficulty of that is what is proprtionate? And how do you make that call in a crisis? If I am a strapping man who knows how to box, and I come face-to-face with another strapping man as an intruder in my home, proportionate might mean smacking him in the face. And I might have a realistic prospect of doing that effectively.

If a boxer uses a fist to hit someone, the charge starts at ABH and goes up from there - law lecture I attended 30 odd years ago. The worry was where that left me as a martial artist - I haven't looked for recent case law but the advice then was just don't hit anybody.

A thing which is always worth holding at the forefront of our minds when contemplating self-defence is that anyone attacking us has made a decision to do so. They will have their bodies flooded with adrenaline, and may have hopped themselves up for the crime with booze or other drugs. We, on the other hand, will be peacefully going about our business/ fast asleep, and ill-prepared for action. When something kicks off, it will be very very fast.

Although the other night when things got a bit interesting here, I was up on my feet a la rolling pin and wired on adrenaline myself in seconds - false alarm, thankfully.

Which is why its best to have thought through your options and possible escape routes in advance.
Fuddle quick thought, if that toolbox is to hand, don't open it looking for a weapon, just heave it at theM.
When something kicks off, there generally isn't time to find an exit or think of your options, therefore do so in advance and just hope you remember them if the time comes. (And hope even more that you don't need such plans).

[Deleted User]

nuatha wrote: »

I've carried swords in a cloth bag slung over a shoulder (and not even caused a blink when a PC asked me what I was carrying).

Back in the 80s, I travelled on foot (and by public transport), with a rifle over my shoulder, and a 9mm Beretta in my armpit.

Nobody batted an eyelid.

Frugalsod

nuatha wrote: »

Which is why its best to have thought through your options and possible escape routes in advance.
Fuddle quick thought, if that toolbox is to hand, don't open it looking for a weapon, just heave it at theM.
When something kicks off, there generally isn't time to find an exit or think of your options, therefore do so in advance and just hope you remember them if the time comes. (And hope even more that you don't need such plans).

Screwdrivers are good for that. Small can can be very dangerous if used with that intent. Just get some flat pack furniture and leave it in the box. If you are ever asked why you have a screwdriver in your bag then say I have some furniture that needs to be put together. Though you are probably more likely to need an Allen key for that, but they are useless weapons.

jk0

Another unintended consequence:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-29/zika-outbreak-epicenter-same-area-genetically-modified-mosquitoes-released-2015

When are we going to stop fiddling with nature?

pineapple

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

Back in the 80s, I travelled on foot (and by public transport), with a rifle over my shoulder, and a 9mm Beretta in my armpit.

Nobody batted an eyelid.

Ha Ha
Was getting a lift to Entebbe airport in Uganda when we had to stop for the usual security check at the entrance. We were asked if we had any firearms with us and my friend thought it would be funny by replying that we had a load of grenades and AK 47s in the boot. The guard was not amused........ :eek:

nuatha

pineapple wrote: »

Ha Ha
Was getting a lift to Entebbe airport in Uganda when we had to stop for the usual security check. We were asked if we had any firearms with us and my friend thought it would be funny by replying that we had a load of grenades and AK 47s in the boot. The guard was not amused........ :eek:

I used to travel internationally with a pair of swords as secured cabin luggage (as part of a group attending competitions). We returned to Heathrow to find armed police everywhere and throttle checkpoints where I was asked it I was carrying anything offensive. The honest reply of a pair of Japanese swords went down like a lead balloon and 8 of us were herded off to a room with a non armed copper to supervise us, they never thought to ask us to leave our swords. Some four hours later we were told we were free to go, and the copper who'd been looking after us breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Four of the group had gobe through a different checkpoint and been answered "Yeah, right, get out of it." So much for security.

GreyQueen

I've often thought about the inconsistancies of airport security.

About 3 years ago, I flew internally in the UK. On the outward journey, I wore my fabric-upper hiking boots, which look much like trainers when seen with trousers, at least to a casual glance.

I wasn't obliged to take them off to put them through the X-ray separately. On the return journey, that pair were in the bag, and I was wearing the leather hikers and was obliged to remove them for X-ray. Both pairs of boots had identical bulky Vibr@m soles with the same potential to hold dodgy stuff.

I've left the country via Heathrow, and had plastic and foil tablet strips in a neck pouch with the emergency cash supply. Heathrow's body scanners didn't pick them up but Auckland International did. But AI didn't pick up on the 8.5 cm long metal nail file which I'd accidentally left in a coat pocket - you could have someone's eye out with that, y'know.

Airport security people, if quoted in the media, say that certain things make them suspicious and choose them to pull certain people over for baggage checks. Quite rightly, they won't divulge their triggers but I would love to know why my Mum, in her fifties, sixties and seventies, always got stopped. What the heck did they think she was up to.....?:rotfl:

Frugalsod

GreyQueen wrote: »

I've often thought about the inconsistancies of airport security.

About 3 years ago, I flew internally in the UK. On the outward journey, I wore my fabric-upper hiking boots, which look much like trainers when seen with trousers, at least to a casual glance.

I wasn't obliged to take them off to put them through the X-ray separately. On the return journey, that pair were in the bag, and I was wearing the leather hikers and was obliged to remove them for X-ray. Both pairs of boots had identical bulky Vibr@m soles with the same potential to hold dodgy stuff.

I've left the country via Heathrow, and had plastic and foil tablet strips in a neck pouch with the emergency cash supply. Heathrow's body scanners didn't pick them up but Auckland International did. But AI didn't pick up on the 8.5 cm long metal nail file which I'd accidentally left in a coat pocket - you could have someone's eye out with that, y'know.

Airport security people, if quoted in the media, say that certain things make them suspicious and choose them to pull certain people over for baggage checks. Quite rightly, they won't divulge their triggers but I would love to know why my Mum, in her fifties, sixties and seventies, always got stopped. What the heck did they think she was up to.....?:rotfl:

I know of people who have had kitchen knives in the bag which had got through two security screening checks undetected.

You mum was probably nervous and that is a trigger for a baggage check. Drug smugglers exhibit the same behavioural responses. I love flying so have no anxieties at all so probably do not have the things that trigger a baggage check.

Either that or she was possibly a member of the paramilitary wing of the WI and that might have been the trigger.

Overall there have been countless tests where devices got through inspection. Many body scanners are next to useless but public confidence in flying would suffer if that were common knowledge. So they have a multilayered approach to increase chances of detecting anything suspect. The biggest boost to security has been the knowledge that hijackers are not interested in negotiating your security. Which means that the passengers will fight back now if a hijacking attempt is made.