What just happened!

Yeah it's tricky when a man hits a woman, can really get your blood up. Important to weigh the consequences though, especially when it's at your home. Don't crap where you eat, and all that.


Yeah, I mean, who wouldn't grab an illegal offensive weapon in that situation? Come on, dude.
 
I've just briefly looked over that, I'll add it to my bookmarks of Wikipedia, nice article because it let me put a name to what they did http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect I'm going to look into that too. But I don't understand the bystander thing. Taking a quick skim through it I haven't noticed fear come into it. So what makes them just watch.
 
I see what you're saying, but in a situation like that the consequences for me would come into play later.




It wasn't an asp, not the police baton although I do have one of those too, this is basically a snapped in half telescopic nunchuks. Afaik those are legal.

Actually one of my favourite home weapons is, well I'm not sure what it's called it's a knife sharpener maybe? But it has a handle like a sword, is solid metal like the length of a small sword and very heavy. It's like one of those big metal rods you might see in a kebab shop, I basically sleep with that next to my bed.
 
Basically, the bystander effect means that no one calls for help because they think that someone else would. It also implies that if no one is helping that person than it is okay for them not to help.
 
Simple - you're more likely to get help from one person than from a group. In a group the people will generally assume that other people will take care of it, so there's no need to risk yourself.



I don't believe any telescopic weapons are legal. You should at least check.



Yep, it's a knife sharpener.
 
It's similar to one of these I don't have the grips. I'm pretty sure these are legal I bought them from a legitimate shop next to Leicester Square where they are on display for anyone to buy. They are sold online in many ma/weapons websites, I used to take them to school with me to demonstrate etc, play with them at the park, take them to training with me sometimes when I was doing Kung Fu. I'm pretty sure they are legal, I'm not sure whether it would be legal to carry them say on my belt. But to own them, take them to training, play with them etc I think is legal.

I think I could possibly get away with, I saw an attack, I went out to help, I grabbed them, guy came at me I instinctively reacted... I could get away with that right?
 
Yep, nothing wrong with having a sharpening steel in the home, I have one in my knife block. I don't tend to carry it out and about though, and I imagine if I ran from the house towards a violent, but weaponless situation, I'd have a hard time explaining what it was doing in my hand. I imagine it would prove to be a very effective blunt object. Probably too much so.

My friend and I charged out of the pub to break up an assault (I won't dignify it with the word fight) happening across the street one Tuesday, some time ago. His girlfriend didn't talk to me for weeks. We saw someone else at risk, she saw him putting himself at risk. She prioritised the latter. Sometimes it seems to be more then just a reluctance to take part.
 
The whole point behind having an object worthy of hurting somebody is for self-defense? If you're defending yourself from an assailant and you're not a law enforcement officer or military personnel with direction and ROEs on how to engage people at different threat levels, then I'm not sure how the assailant's wellbeing is taken into account. I would have to find out a bit more on the law to see where my opinion would land me though. I'm sure things are a lot more strict across the pond then they are in America on this sort of thing.

And I think you're just as likely as killing a guy by smashing his head on the pavement as you would be clocking him upside the head with a heavy object to be honest?
 
I think it may be questionable for him to claim self-defense if he brought a weapon or not. He wasn't defending himself, nor was that his original intent. He went out there to protect the person who was assaulted. Would that not hold any weight in court, that he had the mind to grab an offensive weapon for their safety as well as his if things had escalated?
 
Wrong country - the whole point behind having an object designed to hurt people, by our own laws, is to attack people. You can have valid reasons for carrying such (mainly sports), but other than that it's down to you going equipped to try and hurt other people.



Right, something to explain about the English self-defense law. Self-defense is not a plea, it is a defense against a charge such as assault or similar which tries to claim your actions were justified, and you should therefore not be punished for them.

And yes, the assailant's wellbeing is taken into account. Force to defend yourself must be considered reasonable and proportionate.



Over here, court, after jail, and before more jail.



Proportionate force - smashing their head against the curb would be seen as the same action as hitting them with something heavy you picked up (although if you were carrying it then you'd be going equipped).



Grabbing an offensive weapon beforehand would be considered going equipped.

However, defending someone else can still be considered self-defense if it puts you in a position of potential harm.
 
So clearly when visiting the UK, "stay out of it" or leave the premise immediately and hope I wasn't caught on camera or have to return to the area.

In the U.S., you could claim self-defense but it probably wouldn't hold up. You could say you were in self-defense of a third party but you would have to prove that the person you were defending believed they were in serious danger of their life. There's a possibility of you getting in trouble but a lighter charge, or just getting in trouble if you can't prove by yourself and the third party being attacked that you had legitimate cause to go down with a weapon and if you used it to seriously hurt or kill the assailant.

All in all, Warriorofanart probably has the most sound idea if you want to play by the law. Not what I would do if I'm going to engage in a confrontation willingly and am able to equip myself to better defend myself if I can help it, but I suppose I'm not the smartest guy.
 
I'm not so sure, a good friend of mine a couple of years ago, had someone try to steal his car while he was at home, car was on the driveway, him and his dad both came out, he picked up a baseball bat, sneaked up on the guy (in his driveway) and smacked him with the baseball bat a few times, the legs, the body, big bruises on the guys legs. They called the police, police came, got the guy trying to steal the car. They couldn't charge the guy with attempted theft/robbery because he was charging assault or something on them. So it evened out the guy was let go, and nothing happened to my friend and his dad. So I'm really not sure about this.
 
Nope, that's a completely different thing to using a weapon to hit someone.

For one thing you are actually entitled to carry out a citizens arrest, or to intercede if a 'reasonable person' would consider that your interference was to prevent injury or a crime in progress.



Just don't carry anything designed to be a weapon, nice and simple.



No, the law gives you every right to intercede and defend people - just not to kill the aggressor for a slap.
 
I'm not refuting what the law is or its intent. As far as the law goes I understand the correct route to take and what you're generally allowed to and not do and felt like I acknowledged that. Your post sounds like you're addressing me as if I'm still questioning what the correct action is? I may be misreading you though.
 
Hey Crowzer, about legal vs illegal weapons: Just because someone sells it, doesn't mean it's legal. Pepper spray here in NY is legal up to a certain size. Bit you can always buy bigger.
 
Unfortunately, most people won't act in this sort of situation and just watch like cattle. It is pretty frustrating to be the only exception in a crowd of onlookers. Humans are fundamentally selfish.
 
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