Just to clarify things here, in the UK you are allowed to own weapons for self defence without giving an account for them whilst on private property (as long as you are not tresspassing) or inside your own home. Article 7 of the English Bill of Rights confirms and protects the Common Law right to have arms for defence.Granted we in the UK have very restrictive Firearms legislation but as far as non firearm weapons are concerned we really should not be too worried about what we have by the bed 'just in case'.The carriage of weapons (in public) is regulated by the Prevention of Crime Act 1953, which states;"It is an offence to possess an offensive weapon in a public place without lawful authority or reasonable excuse". (Section 1). The stated purpose of the Bill according to its sponsors was to "tackle the ruffian and those on the fringe of the community who would got out armed with a cosh, knuckle-duster or similar and terrorise others in the neighbourhood. Its main effect was to be not in the vast number of prosecutions, but the "in terrorem effect". It was intended only to "discourage" certain persons from carrying offensive weapons unless they had "lawful authority or reasonable excuse" while respecting the liberty of the subject.The Bill only applied to the carriage of weapons in public places. Lord Lloyd (a sponsor of the Bill) reminded the House of Lords that; "It should be noted a person who remains on his own property may with impunity go around positively festooned with weapons. If he has a firearm he would need the appropriate certificate. His house may be a veritable arsenal. He will be committing no offence under this Bill".Hansard, 14 April 1953.Maxwell Fyffe (also a sponsor) assured the Commons "it excludes the whole class of persons who are on their employers property and doing their work. The night watchman who carries a bludgeon or a life preserver would not come within the scope of this Measure when carrying out his duties on his employers property".Hansard, 26 Feb. 1953.One can argue that the Bill of Rights gives the law abiding enough Lawful Authority to carry defensive weapons in public to satisfy the Prevention of Crime Act and in fact it appears that Police Officers derive their lawful authority from the same Common Law as the ordinary member of the public.The Police and the Courts may well frown on anyone who prepares for a bump in the night situation by keeping a weapon per se but that does not stop you from keeping purpose built weapons for that purpose. All it really does is mean that you need to be extra careful about the reasonableness of your subsequent actions but that is not necessarily a bad thing IMO.I heard about a case recently where a drug dealer kept an unlicensed shotgun for defense upon hearing his front door being broken down loaded it and pointed towards the doorway. In fact it was a Police raid and when he realised that fact he lowered his weapon and gave himself up. He was subsequently charged under the Firearms Act with possesion of a firearm with intent to endager life but found not guilty as it was proven that he only had it for self defence, his only firearm offence was to have an unlicensed shotgun. having a weapon for lawful purposes - self defence being a lawful reason is still legal in the UK.
It this passage which caught my attention:It should be noted a person who remains on his own property may with impunity go around positively festooned with weapons. If he has a firearm he would need the appropriate certificate. His house may be a veritable arsenal.Seems like they know Moley already
you sure?
Let's just say if zombies rise from the dead then Moley's house is gonna be my first stop!!! It's like a walmart for swords!
