Spearhead.

[TeeDee]

What? Has the common law defense been removed?
Personally as the owner of my late brothers cutlass and his issued sword I agree with the OP, an edged weapon that isn't ready to use isn't a weapon, it's simply a decoration.
Somebody breaks into my house I'll take whatever steps I need to in keeping my family safe.
A spear is a reasonably good self defense weapon so long as the assailant doesn't have a shotgun, in which case a broken 12 Bore double under the bed would work, #4 steel shot rather than 00 buckshot. A shame we have to keep them under lock and key these days.

Respectfully - we are in the times of where one says even hypothetically online can have consequences.

Not that I agree with all of it however.

 

[Pattree]

@Moondog55
UK is very different from Australia but there have been successful claims of self defence. A frightened pensioner shot a burger through a shed door and was (eventually) acquitted but it’s unusual.

The spear in the OP is just for decoration. If it has any age to it I would have left the original edge but that’s just me.

 

[Herman30]

If it has any age to it I would have left the original edge but that’s just me.

Replica.

LONG SPEAR, sharp replica

Forged long spear inspired by early medieval finds. The spear is sharp, do not use for combat. Length: 39 cm Diameter: 3.5 cm

www.wulflund.com

 

[Pattree]

OK.
The instructions seem quite clear.

 

[Dave Budd]

I don't make weapons, but I do make pattern welded spears (for reenactors to show off with). They are sharp, despite only being display pieces because customers complain if they aren't.

I'd not given self defense a thought, but they are quite good at slicing bread when nothing else is to hand.

 

[Herman30]

Shaft butt almost done. It´s half way in, as she said.
Very hard wood to whittle with a mora slojdknife, ash is.

 

[Ystranc]

Shaft butt almost done. It´s half way in, as she said.
Very hard wood to whittle with a mora slojdknife, ash is.

It’s a pity you don’t have access to a centre lathe. It would be very quick and perfectly strait

 

[Tengu]

Youd need a lathe with a pretty hug bed for a spear haft.

 

[Ystranc]

Not really, not to turn the end. Most centre lathes have a tubular drive for the chuck so you can feed bar through it, the spear shaft should fit through a 2” throat.

 

[TLM]

The Finnish legal system is fairly different from that of the UK. Like no common law etc

In the last 20 years it slightly seems that defending oneself has become less accaptable than before. Don't know the reason for that.

 

[GNJC]

Possession of a sharpened spear, an item with no credible purpose other than as a weapon would indicate premeditation. You could certainly forget using self defence as a legal defence in a court of law.

If we are discussing the Anglo-Welsh Jurisdiction, that is not necessarily so...

Without other aggravating factors, a collector's item on display in a house gives no presumable inference at law other than that the owner likes and collects such things. An intruder in a dwelling place can't be lawfully attacked willy nilly with impunity; yet he may be lawfully restrained, injured or even killed in some circumstances.

For example - if an intruder were to threaten or inflict actual violence against you or your family in your home, it would be entirely reasonable to seize the nearest object with which a rational defence could be made. That may be a stool, or it could very reasonably be a spear mounted for display on a wall.

If one is being attacked there is an absolute right to self defence, and necessity is an absolute defence at law. It has been used successfully many times and is still good law.

 

[Ystranc]

Don’t get me wrong but self defence in the UK is still a valid legal defence, especially in the case of home invasion. However, possession of an offensive weapon for the purpose of self defence is not legal. The definitions of what is an offensive weapon are continually being tightened (by common law as well as statute) If you must defend yourself with a weapon it must be something that you might reasonably and lawfully have to hand, something that has a legitimate purpose other than as a weapon.

 

[GNJC]

The Finnish legal system is fairly different from that of the UK. Like no common law etc

In the last 20 years it slightly seems that defending oneself has become less accaptable than before. Don't know the reason for that.

If you mean over here, the law and the directions for its implementation have actually gone the other way and made homeowners' rights more clear. The situation is far from perfect, but the drift toward automatic 'victimhood' for the intruder has been stopped and reversed, somewhat.

 

[Laurentius]

Possession of a sharpened spear, an item with no credible purpose other than as a weapon would indicate premeditation. You could certainly forget using self defence as a legal defence in a court of law.

Ooh dear, guess I should surrender my yatagan bayonet in the next amnesty then, except of course that it is an antique and collectable m'lud, not something I would use for cutting the grass.

 

[GNJC]

Don’t get me wrong but self defence in the UK is still a valid legal defence, especially in the case of home invasion. However, possession of an offensive weapon for the purpose of self defence is not legal. The definitions of what is an offensive weapon are continually being tightened (by common law as well as statute) If you must defend yourself with a weapon it must be something that you might reasonably and lawfully have to hand, something that has a legitimate purpose other than as a weapon.

Almost anything can be construed as an 'offensive weapon' with sufficiently good advocacy, but that can be countered by competent defence Counsel - there is no and can be no exhaustive list. So it's very often down to what is adduced and how the witnesses come up to proof that matters most.

The 'definitions' are not being and have not been tightened, since that would be entirely self-defeating from a legal perspective. But, certainly, some things have been confirmed as such; nonetheless, the whole point of 'bare bones' law is that the 'meat' can be put on them ad hoc, as appropriate and necessary.

My misunderstanding if the inference was meant to be that the spear was being carried in general around without good reason.

 

[TLM]

My comment was in answer to Hermans spear that is very much under Finnish jurisdiction.

 

[Ystranc]

Laurentius, owners of antiques and collectible weapons have a defence in law.

Almost anything can be construed as an 'offensive weapon' with sufficiently good advocacy, but that can be countered by competent defence Counsel - there is no and can be no exhaustive list. So it's very often down to what is adduced and how the witnesses come up to proof that matters most.

The 'definitions' are not being and have not been tightened, since that would be entirely self-defeating from a legal perspective. But, certainly, some things have been confirmed as such; nonetheless, the whole point of 'bare bones' law is that the 'meat' can be put on them ad hoc, as appropriate and necessary.

My misunderstanding if the inference was meant to be that the spear was being carried in general around without good reason.

There was no misunderstanding as such, I didn’t imply at any time that the spear would be carried in a public place without good reason. However the 2019 offensive weapons act was updated July 14 2022 to include certain weapons kept in private residences making ownership of a serviceable replica spear into something that could constitute an offence.

 

[GNJC]

Laurentius, owners of antiques and collectible weapons have a defence in law.

There was no misunderstanding as such, I didn’t imply at any time that the spear would be carried in a public place without good reason. However the 2019 offensive weapons act was updated July 14 2022 to include certain weapons kept in private residences making ownership of a serviceable replica spear into something that could constitute an offence.

Which is a perfect example of knee-jerk, and so very poor, legislation - and I write that because it always could have done so under already existing laws.

This is the sort of idiocy that the Law Commission has a partial role to - theoretically, anyway - see avoided. I can't tell you the number of times this doesn't happen and it makes the LC seem little better than a mere codifier - which is a pity because it does a lot of good work.

I guess it comes from allowing vote-chasers to make law...

 

[Herman30]

I live in a quiet suburb and not involved in any activity that would cause someone to violently come through the door to collect money. So no need for any spear wielding medieval melee in my apartment.

 

[Ystranc]

Which is a perfect example of knee-jerk, and so very poor, legislation - and I write that because it always could have done so under already existing laws.

This is the sort of idiocy that the Law Commission has a partial role to - theoretically, anyway - see avoided. I can't tell you the number of times this doesn't happen and it makes the LC seem little better than a mere codifier - which is a pity because it does a lot of good work.

I guess it comes from allowing vote-chasers to make law...

I absolutely agree about laws that are tinkered with for political ends being poorly thought out.