Ask the Police: Legal Self Defence Products?

[ELB]

https://www.askthe.police.uk/content/Q589.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ASK THE [UK] POLICE
Your policing questions answered.

Q589: Are there any legal self defence products that I can buy?

The only fully legal self defence product at the moment is a rape alarm. These are not expensive and can be bought from most local police stations or supermarkets.

There are other self defence products which claim to be legal (e.g. non toxic sprays), however, until a test case is brought before the court, we cannot confirm their legality or endorse them. If you purchase one you must be aware that if you are stopped by the police and have it in your possession there is always a possibility that you will be arrested and detained until the product, it's contents and legality can be verified.

However, accepting there is a lot of concern about street crime, we can try to clarify matters a little by putting forward the following points.
You must not get a product which is made or adapted to cause a person injury. Possession of such a product in public (and in private in specific circumstances) is against the law.
There are products which squirt a relatively safe, brightly coloured dye (as opposed to a pepper spray). A properly designed product of this nature, used in the way it is intended, should not be able to cause an injury.
However, be aware that even a seemingly safe product, deliberately aimed and sprayed in someone's eyes, would become an offensive weapon because it would be used in a way that was intended to cause injury.
Any products bought from abroad have a greater chance of being illegal.

The above advice is given in good faith, you must make your own decision and this website cannot be held responsible for the consequences of the possession, use or misuse of any self defence product.

[jmra]

The UK

We need a puke emoticon

[WildBill]

The UK

We need a puke emoticon

[jmra]

I got to thinking, seems like I remember a story about US citizens sending a bunch of hunting rifles to England during WWII. I think I remember we did this because the citizens were defenseless due to existing gun laws. Anyone remember reading something about that? Maybe something posted on the forum? I wonder how many times in the future we will need to bail out those who have neutered themselves?

[ELB]

I got to thinking, seems like I remember a story about US citizens sending a bunch of hunting rifles to England during WWII. I think I remember we did this because the citizens were defenseless due to existing gun laws. Anyone remember reading something about that? Maybe something posted on the forum? I wonder how many times in the future we will need to bail out those who have neutered themselves?

Yes I have heard that too. I'm sure the all got melted down afterwards.

[joe817]

I got to thinking, seems like I remember a story about US citizens sending a bunch of hunting rifles to England during WWII. I think I remember we did this because the citizens were defenseless due to existing gun laws. Anyone remember reading something about that? Maybe something posted on the forum? I wonder how many times in the future we will need to bail out those who have neutered themselves?

It's true. After the fall of Dunkirk, England was virtually defenseless as they lost most of their small arms during the evacuation.

"Help for the beleaguered nation came from both the American government and from the American people, the latter through the "American Committee for Defense of British Homes. In late 1940, the committee sent an urgent appeal -- which, of course, appeared in American Rifleman -- for Americans to send "Pistols - Rifles - Revolvers - Shotguns - Binoculars" because "British civilians, faced with the threat of invasion, desperately need arms for the defense of their homes."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/650257/posts" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That fact was related to me by a rancher friend of the family up in Clay county, to me back in 1962. He donated a couple of shotguns, 2 rifles, and a pistol. He never got them back.

[gljjt]

Unbelievable! If someone is beating the heck out of you, can you use your hands to "stop the threat"?
Your only recourse to being beaten with a bat or stabbed with a knife is a liquid dye dispenser? Just wow!

[mgood]

Your only recourse to being beaten with a bat or stabbed with a knife is a liquid dye dispenser? Just wow!

And can not be intentionally aimed at the eyes. I guess this is only to mark them so that police may identify them later.

Glad I have no reason to go to England.