Improvised weapons

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Globe icon
 The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject.
Please improve this article or discuss the issue on the talk page.
This article does not cite any references or sources. (April 2008)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

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 or where the person 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 unavailable or inappropriate.

Contents

[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:

Some tools are designed with the secondary function of being used as weapons for self-defense or for use by law enforcement or security personnel. Examples include certain pocket knives and some club-type flashlights such as those popularly sold by the Mag-lite brand.

(NOTE: Items such as martial arts practice weapons (nunchakus, bokkens, fencing foils etc.) are excluded from this list as they are already categorized as weapons. Hunting weapons such as shotguns and hunting knives are also excluded for the same reasons)

[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 its 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 items of 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 machetes, canes, bamboo spears, and knives as a result of the 400 year Spanish colonization that took place in the Philippines which prohibited the ownership and use of standard swords and bladed weapons; 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 of 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 a potentially-harmful object in a situation where there is no reasonable use for it. For example, while it is legal and perfectly understandable for someone to possess 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, sometimes with harsh zero tolerance policies. Airports typically prohibit objects that could be used as weapons from being carried onto planes, with restrictions widely extended after the September 11 Terrorist Attacks to cover even objects like nail clippers and spiked wristbands. (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, batteries, or rocks. Sandbags are similar weapons, only they are filled with sand as their name implies.

[edit] References

[edit] See also