Improvised weapons
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Improvised weapons are devices that were not designed to be used as weapons but can be put to that use. They are generally used for self-defence, where the defender is otherwise unarmed. In some cases improvised weapons are commonly used by attackers in street fights , muggings, murders or during riots usually when conventional weapons such as firearms are not available or inappropriate.
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[edit] Examples
Any object that can be picked up and used by one to cause bodily harm to another can be considered an improvised weapon. For common, ready-at-hand weapons, they can include:
- Common sports equipment (baseball bats, golf clubs, pool cues, hockey sticks, dumbells and their handles)
- Any object made of glass with a grip (beer mugs and bottles)
- Clothing accessories (belts or scarves for choking, walking sticks, umbrellas, finger rings (used as knuckle-dusters), steel-toed boots, chain-wallets, spike bands. shoe laces and belts can also be used as an improvised whip, a common form of domestic abuse, unlikely but not impossible that one would have enough time to remove it in an actual fight)
- Tools (hammers, wrenches, screwdrivers, chisels, box cutters, hatchets, shovels, pick axes, crowbars, nail guns)
- Construction materials (2x4s, pipes, rebars, chains, ropes (for strangulation))
- Vehicular maintenance tools and parts (tire irons, bike chains, bicycle pumps, chain-style bicycle locks, car antennaes, windshield wipers)
- Kitchen utensils (knives, forks, meat cleavers, ice-picks, frying pans, rolling pins)
- Musical instruments (cymbals, drum sticks, piano wires (for strangulation), guitars or any string instrument with a long neck)
- Farming and gardening tools (pitchforks, axes, hoes, machetes, pruning shears, chainsaws)
- Nautical and boating equipemnt (oars, paddles anchors, harpoons)
- Office and school supplies (letter openers, scissors, X-acto knives, rulers, staple guns (used as knuckle-dusters))
- Cleaning and janitorial equipment (broom/mop sticks, plunger handles, dust pans, squeegees, long thick handled brushes)
- Interior decorations and furniture accesories (fireplace pokers, curtain rods, candle holders, chair/table legs)
- Personal grooming products (straight razors, scissors)
- Medical equipment (scalpels, syringes (if containing a poison or other harmful substance))
- Any liquid that causes pain upon contact with skin (Hot coffee, soup, boiling water, battery acid)
- Any blunt, heavy object, such as a brick or a rock
(NOTE: Items such as Pocket knives and martial arts weapons (nunchakus, bokkens) are excluded from this list as they are already categorized as weapons)
[edit] Improvised weapons in martial arts
Throughout history, common tools were used so often as weapons in self-defense that many of them have evolved specifically into weapons or were adapted with the secondary purpose of being used in self-defense, usually by adding modifications to it's design. Well-known examples include the Irish shillelagh, the Japanese Bo and hanbo, which were originally used as walking canes and the Buddhist Monk's spade, a shovel monks used for burying corpses which often had sharpened edges to defend against bandits with more ease.
Thusly many martial arts throughout employ the use of common objects as weapons; Okinawan karate features farming equipment that were later used as weapons by Okinawan peasants due the prohibition of weapons imposed by the shogun regime during feudal times; Filipino martial arts such as Eskrima include practice with canes, knives and machetes as a vital element of the art; Chinese martial arts and some Korean martial arts commonly feature the use of improvised weapons such as fans, hammers and staves. There are even some western martial arts that are based on improvised weapons such as British quarterstaff fighting and Irish stick fighting.
[edit] Legal Issues
Because of the use of common objects as weapons in violent crimes, many countries have made laws to prevent the use some tools and other non-weapon objects to be used to cause harm. It is possible for a person to be detained, or even arrested, by a Law enforcement official or security personnel for carrying an object in a situation where there is no reasonable use for it. For example, While it is legal and perfectly understandable for someone to posses a kitchen knife or a hammer and keep it for use in one's domicile, it would seem highly suspicious for someone to carry a kitchen knife or a hammer concealed in his/her person or in plain sight when walking down a city street.
Many areas even prohibit people from entering with objects that may used as weapons. Most Public schools in North America will not allow their students to bring pocket knives or wallet-chains and will even suspend students for bringing such items. Another perfect example of this are Airports. After the September 11 Terrorist Attacks, Airline systems will not even allow passengers to bring certain items on board among these, nail clippers and Swiss Army knives (see Airport security repercussions due to the September 11, 2001 attacks).
[edit] Makeshift weapons
Improvised offensive weapons are often used by criminals and insurgents, and are far more lethal. Examples are:
The improvised Molotov cocktail was used with great success by the heavily outnumbered Finns in the Winter War against the Soviet Union. The mixture of flammable petroleum, often thickened with soap or tar, was so effective against the Soviet tanks that the Finns began mass producing Molotov cocktails, and issuing them to their troops. While the first documented use of such improvised incendiary devices was in the Spanish Civil War, their use in the Winter War was much more prevalent, and it was at that time they were named Molotov cocktails, after the Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov.
Weapons such as blackjacks or saps, consisting of a sock or stocking with a heavy, hard object inside (at the toe) are a quick, effective mêlée weapons. The best materials to use are a rugby sock and three pool or billiards balls, although archetypically lead shot is used. Other filler objects can be halfbricks, fishing sinkers, or rocks. Sandbags are similar weapons, only they are filled with sand as their name implies.
