In light of the burglar who was killed breaking into someones house....

[M0naLisa]

Do you have a weapon in your bedroom in case this happened to you?

And

Would you use it?

We have a baseball bat at the bottom of the stairs, plus the knife block in the kitchen and also 2 weapons in the bedroom.

I would be too scared to use them but i doubt DH would if anyone broke into our home.

I have an old walking stick that used to belong to my grandad under the bed. Except it's not a walking stick, it's a 2 inch thick branch with string wrapped and glued around one end for extra grip. If anyone asks it's a walking stick, but my grandad made it with the intention of cracking skulls.

He always had a baseball bat in the footwell of his car too.

However he also had a 6 inch long flick knife which was permanently flicked open (and had seized open it had been that way for that long)...he even made a special sheath for it so he was always at the ready. I didn't even know it closed until dh examined it! After he died we decided that it was best to hand that one into the police though...

DP lifts weights and I have a metal bar (the bit that you screw the round weights onto) under my side of the bed. It is there specifically for the purposes of whacking intruders. There is another one hidden in DS's room. He doesn't know it is there, but we do. During my moments of worry about this kind of thing, I have assessed the suitability of various household items that could be used for defending us, and I know exactly what to grab and where I will find it.

I don't have knives or anything like that though.

Nope - only weapon in my bedroom came from Ann Summers - death by rabbit???

I never even thought about having a weapon for intruders... I guess I'd just grab the lamp or something equally useless?? Do people really think so deeply about such things? Hell, I sleep with the doors unlocked

I've lived in some dodgy places too, a road with 3 murders in one year, another road with a gangland drug dealer bloke, a paedofile, and a cannabis factory 6 houses down...... where I live now is much more respectable however! But even so, I never considered myself to be at risk of people attacking me in my home.

I used to have a solid metal alarm clock that I planned to hurl at any intruder, but it has sadly died and I have yet to replace it with a suitable weapon.

I think it is always best to have a weapon. Every horror/ thriller/ crime film I watch, I end up shouting "GET A WEAPON, YOU DAFT MARE!" at the TV

I have a vintage horse whip I'm pretty sure would take a burglar by surprise.

And thanks to Bupcakes I now know that Elnett hairspray would blind the thieving get be a useful weapon too!

No weapons to hand just a kitchen full of Sabatiers... which I know would land me in casualty if I ever brandished one in anger.

we also have a really really heavy morter and pessle (SP)
its very heavy and id also used that as a weapon!!!

DH has shown me how to handle it if it ever came to it.

I had a large Maglite with the halogen bulb by my bed. If any burglar broke in, shining it straight in his eyes would guarantee blindness, then bashing him over the head would knock him out.
Plus, it doesn't count as an offensive weapon so I couldn't get done for it.

When DP is away, I keep a knife under my bed. As long as no-one breaks in, then no-one will get hurt. Fairly simple really.

you need to be careful with what you keep by the side of the bed. as i understand it, if you keep something that is OBVIOUSLY a weapon then you may be liable for a police charge if you use it, however, it is much less likely to happen if you have a normal household item by the side of the bed.

so, i don't have a knife or a baseball bat but i have a large Maglite torch. it is reasonable to keep a torch on your bedside table, even one which is used by security folks as the handles are large and full of heavy batteries.

mind you, i have a very large doggie downstairs (he is actually very soft and gentle but looks and sounds very impressive) so would expect him to be our best weapon.

I'd be very surprised if anyone these days would be taken to court for killing someone that had broken into their home. Hopefully common sense has started to prevail.

I have a massive heavy spade with dried concrete stuck to it at the back of my bedroom door and I have a stanley knife with fresh blades in my bedside drawer.

I have nothing specific as a weapon, but the chopping board in the kitchen is a very solid piece of wood, never mind all the kitchen knives and upstairs there is the stick and hook I use to get the loft ladder down with.

I used to have a very handy 4 cell Maglight, but the batteries went rusty and destroyed it!

no... i sleep nakes tho so would scare anyone away

naked even

We have a pair of swords hanging in the bedroom over the fireplace. They are decorative, but I would grab one if someone broke in to the house. No clue how to use it but hopefully the sight of it would scare off any burglar!

For those with knives - just bear in mind that you have to get very close to someone to use it & it can be surprisingly hard to immediately incapacitate a person by stabbing/slashing them.
If you are a woman and the opponent is male there is a very good chance the knife could be taken from you by force & used against you. You have in effect handed him a weapon.
Be careful.

Hairspray and furniture polish for me to blind/stun them, and dumbells for OH to knock em out.

Like a tag team.

8 years of karate training.

I have Hands Of Death so am always prepared.

Telephone will do me fine. No intention of getting close enough to anyone to do any damage to them. If you're aggressive to an intruder they are far more likely to be aggressive back. I went on a course at work that covered this sort of thing and it was suggested that the intruder was far more likely to peg it if a woman came down the stairs to confront them and that if a man came down the stairs they'd be more likely to be thumped by the intruder.

metal bar with a hook for extra bludgeoning

My friend has a baseball bat with 'reasonable force' written on it...

A pitbull and some golfclubs.