The comments after the article are brilliant!

 

this will be recinded after someone gets stabbed for taking one too many biscuts during tea time.

 

I just hope the burglars don't all start buying guns!
Then again, they'd have to change that law too.

 

I suppose its a good thing that you aren't limited to a knife to stab with, as that would only bring the adversary closer than I would like... Keeping someone at bay with a 2-handed sword sounds entertaining and inviting, though, particularly if you have room to swing...Off with their heads!

What's the old Robin Williams comedy routine about the "Bobbies" in England - "STOP! or I'll say stop again!"

Mo-Go

 

I wonder what the law will be on using crossbows & slingshots.
Sorry, this has got me all excited. Not that I want to get burgled & kill them, it would just be nice to have the law on our side for a change.

 

Wow they won't prosecute you for defending yourself, how thoughtful of them.
**** poor performance by the English for allowing the gov't to put you in that position to start with.

Just remember a gov't that grants rights, err privileges to it's subjects can take them all away as well. Now does the Queen have to issue Letters Patent to each subject granting the ability to bear arms and meet out justice?

I have a gun, therefore I am a citizen not a subject.
Break into my house, I can shoot you dead on the spot and not only not be prosecuted but your family/estate cannot file civil suit against me either, you're just dead. Chlorine in the gene pool.

 

Im with you. I'll stab them with .40 S&W hollowpoints.

best part about Tx, they even cart the body off for ya! If the perp has always been a headache for the deputies, they might even shake your hand and tell ya thanks.

 

its a step in the right direction at least. maybe GB has been to the far extreme and seen what it's like, and now wants to moderate a bit.

 

He is just a tired, failed politician who is trying to grab headlines .. There is NO new law, NO new rights at all.
We have always had the right to use "reasonable force" to defend our homes and ourselves. This announcement does not grant any form of immunity or protection at all. If the police deem that the amount of force was excessive or unreasonable then you can still be arrested and charged.

If you use an article in your home as a weapon, you need to show it had a legitimate use and was not placed in your home as a weapon. The KEY words are DEFEND, PROTECT and REASONABLE. You can not attack or maintain an attack once the immediate threat is removed.

Well thats the theory anyway... In practice, unless you hunt them down, pursue them down the street or ambush them, you can inflict pain and injury or even death with relative impunity, as long as you have a good lawyer and a modicum of acting ability

 

I'd make sure there is no "small" print saying it can only be in a non-fatal part of the body. Are you required to stop if they ask you to? I've also heard that many types and lengths of knives are now illegal in England. It's still a good first step for a once free people.

 

I would go buy a very nice short sword of some kind...maybe a rapier?

 

Im assuming this new law came to pass because of the recent stabbing/death of one of 4 men who broke into a home in the UK? Are the 3 people that lived in that home now free of all murder charges against them too (I hope) ?

 

God bless America. It's not perfect by any means but I know where I live in Oklahoma you can shoot an intruder. Even if someone is on your propperty threatening you, you can shoot them. I believe. If thats not actually the case I don't care I will shoot anyways. If it comes down to me or you......It's You!!!

 

Have the Brits ever been free?

It's just the 2-step forward 1-step back approach. They do the damage then diffuse the anger, then do more damage and defuse the anger. There won't be a change until the fundamentals change.

 

Have the Brits ever been free?

What do you mean by free? They've been a republic in the past.

 

I say, mate, could you move closer, my knife is not long enough to reach you.: Would you like some tea? Ok, so I'm not a comedian.

 

Thats not a knife, THIS is a knife.
I know its not British btw.

 

STAB?!! No, no, no...blunt force trauma please.

 

Hi Im a Brit, the situation has changed slightly.

Before you had to use reasonable force, but you couldnt injure the person in any way, especially if they were escaping. You couldnt physically hold them etc as far as I know.

Now they have said that if you find a burglar in the house you can defend yourself with weapons, you however, cannot harm said person if they are leaving and on their way out.

This makes a lot of owners more happy here, plus our dogs ofcourse. Would one of our dogs been threatened with euthansia when biteing a burglar?

Iv spoken to our local neighbourhood watch PC, and he said it was always the way that one could use reasonable force, but just not to shoot the people when they were running away (as in the farmers case where he shot the thief in the back and killed him).

 

You couldnt physically hold them etc as far as I know.

Sure you could, it's common law.

 

So, just my curiosity, what are your sword restrictions over there?
I.e. no less than/more than length, do you have to have a scabbard for it ...
Do you have to have a broadsword or are katanas allowed? :xeye:
What about pikes & spears?!?

Seriously though I read about Brits prepping with swords etc on an article about food shortages and tussles over the cheaper cuts of meat on another site a few months ago and thought it was a joke for a bit.
Sad to see that the country that gave us the saying/concept "a man's home is his castle" actually make you defend it as such!

 

Don't get to smug and superior about the english lack of law on their side to protect themselves and their property. Plenty of states do not have the castle doctrine. Laws say you must retreat and let them have their plunder.

 

I have noticed the phrase "duty to retreat" a few times on the forum.Is this a US thing, I have never heard of it here?

 

Well, it's better than nothing I guess. Still, I'd rather my grandma not have to go toe to toe with some knife wielding 19 year old.

It's at least a step in the right direction. Now I just wish they would let you guys own fire arms.

 

It is legal to own firearms in the UK, indeed it is a piece of cake to get a shot gun cert.Not as easy as the USA,the handgun ban after Dunblane was a disaster.

 

Wait a second... This story contradicts others.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/stand...tandard/article-23783729-millionaire-who-attacked-burglar-with-bat-is-jailed.do

 

Who does it contradict?