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.

what happens when such situation a rises?

do you guys no knife, baseball bat, any offensive weapon used in your house if you were being robbed would be unreasonble unless you were being attacked yourselves with such weapons ! you cannot use self defence as point of law says the force must be reasonable but so for example if the robber had a knife and you shot him this would be unreasonable and you would be charged with attempted murder! if he is not dead or murder if he is!

I have no weapons , but be warned ,if ANYONE wakes me in the night ,unless i have given birth to them , they will be very ,very , very, sorry . I once after falling asleep at a party ,fell victim to some clever arse who decided to wake me by poking me with a feather duster , i apparently woke up ,stood up ,punched bloke and then went straight back to sleep .

lol bump tell me what your taking i need some sleep! i'm very light sleeper i dont have clocks in the house unless digital!

I live in a relatively bad neighbourhood.

No one shits on your own doorstep, so we're safe.

I like your style, bump.

Nadia - almost right - actually anything that it is unreasonable to keep by a bed, e.g. a hammer, can be classed as an offensive weapon. Unless you happened to be building something in the bedroom over that time period and the hammer and other tools just happened to be in the bedroom - but it's foolhardy to keep one by the bed for use in the event of a burglary.

Which is why I had the Maglite torch - that's a perfectly reasonable thing to have by the bed.

Well the devil dog sleeps on the stairs/hallway so they'd have to get past him first and that would be unlikely given that he is prone to aggression when he is nervous/scared and he is very protective of me and the children.

Should they get past the dog I have no weapons, but lots of things I could throw, the benefit of having a dumping ground for a bedroom . I'm sure I could find something suitably heavy.

I agree with Dragonwoman about arming a would-be attacker.

However, there's no telling that sort of thing to my father, who, when he was managing an off-license in a dodgy part of one of our delightful Colonies, had a hardwood rounders bat. He was so terribly proud of his Board of Education.

I have a dog, an ex soldier and a mortar shell (like a 2 ft bullet). I should be ok

"any offensive weapon used in your house if you were being robbed would be unreasonble unless you were being attacked yourselves with such weapons !"

Wrong... A little old lady, for example, faced with a big burly bloke, armed or not, would be quite entitled to grab any kind of weapon and use it. In the 'reasonable force' test, there is a big emphasis on 'balance'. If your assailant is younger, bigger and stronger than you, your weapon of choice is simply evening up the odds.

However, if you are the big burly bloke and the intruder is some slip of a kid that you have easily overpowered, it is then not 'reasonable' to finish him off with a lump hammer, just for the heck of it.

I am slightly amazed at all the posters arming themselves with baseball bats, stanley knives and hammers...

If you used these to incapacitate an intruder I think you would find yourself up for assault/attempted murder etc so fast your feet wouldn't touch the floor.

Braining someone with a baseball bat or stabbing them with a stanley knife is unlikely to be looked on as reasonable force in answer to someone peering through your knicker drawer...

Nope, we don't have the sort of bed you can put things under, it has drawers full of clothes.

There are, however, two 6ft sticks on the wall downstairs and various other martial arts weapons lying about. The swords aren't properly sharp though.
I have told husband that burglars are his responsibility.

"If you used these to incapacitate an intruder I think you would find yourself up for assault/attempted murder etc so fast your feet wouldn't touch the floor."

Also wrong. If you went out into the street carrying these kinds of things then yes, they're inappropriate offensive weapons. But in a home, faced with an intruder and frightened to death, you're perfectly entitled to grab hold of such items and use them either to threaten (in the first place) or wound if you think your safety is at risk. Any injuries or deaths are going to be investigated, naturally. Very, very few ever make it to court.

This is a tricky one for me, as DH has a shotgun licence so there are guns in my house. I don't know where the gun cabinet keys are though (part of the licence condition is that this is kept secret from everyone else in the home) and I don't know how to fire a shotgun. Most people where I live (very rural) have licences so anyone breaking in would probably have a suspicion that they might be met with a gun and that should be deterrent enough. I don't keep anything by the bed.

Its so hard to say what you'd do in that instance - if someone had one of my children, I'd have to do whatever to protect them. I am sure most Mums feel that way.

Wow... I have my mobile phone. I would call the police if I heard someone in the house. I do have a torch by my bed but I don't think I'd want to get close enough to whack someone with it.

It's just DD and me and we usually co-sleep. If she was in her room (hah!), I would creep in with her and barricade us in the room while I called the police. If we were in my room, the door is shut anyway and has a closed stairgate in front of it. Hard to get in without making a noise thus, hopefully, giving me time to call the police. Loudly.

Cogito where exactly are you getting your information from?

well its funny in recent years how few homeowners who used such force has been charged with maslaughter

I don't suppose my super sized tub of Nivea is going to cut the mustard is it?!

Have to say that if someone breaks into someones home and the burglar gets hurt then tough shit ... he/she should not have been there in the first place. Cold, harsh, but case closed.

We have a baseball bat by the bed too however i find booby trapping the house a better idea as it gives me time to call the police!!! Shoes in front of front and back door,toys on the stairs at opposite sides all the way up and a stairgate at the top which any intruder would trip over by which time id have called the police and pushed the idiot back down the stairs :D

Masai stick. I would if they came near me. like near bottom of this page It was a gift from family on holiday.

I keep a bazooka under my bed. plus a tin of brasso

if anyone breaks in ..BOOM.. and my defence will be that I was polishing it and it went off by accident

"well its funny in recent years how few homeowners who used such force has been charged with maslaughter"

Few is right. The Tony Martin case made the headlines precisely because it was unusual. This case from 04 and this case from last year are far more typical i.e. arrests are made and the events investigated but no prosecution is brought.

I am shocked at the weapons some people have said that they keep. Do you really all live in such fear? I must admit that I have never considered keeping anything to hand so I would probably have to improvise somehow.