Good point. I generally like guns when I get to shoot them with a friend, but I admit I'm not entirely comfortable, especially when pistols jam up and you have to fiddle around with them. I prefer revolvers from that perspective.

Of course owning one and regularly shooting it would improve the handling, but maybe not at 3am in the night having just been roughly woken up.

So in a certain way, my Katana is likely the better (more competent to handle) weapon, and thankfully gun-armed criminals in Vienna are still a very small minority. Even knifes are rarely used, so a big sword is a decent overmatch.

Rick .50, my comment was not meant as a recommendation it was meant as an example of the irony of laws that put you as the homeowner in a position of needing a lawyer the same as the perpetrator who probably qualifies for a free public defender.

My procedure will still be to shoot to stop and disable if someone breaks in at night regardless of what their intentions are since I have no way of knowing those intentions. No headshots since I'm not a sharpshooter and no hand to hand combat since I'm past my prime for that sort of stuff.

A .38 firing wadcutters will stop someone close up and will not go through walls and kill my innocent next door neighbor.

I wish I can be that confident with my katana. It would seem that months of practice using the shinken would boost my confidence in using it in my home but the effect has been the opposite. All the practice did was make me aware of the weaknesses and troublesome spots I could encounter when I try to use it in the corridors of my home.

Edit: Actually I was looking to buy a Roman Gladius to add to my collection and also as a practical substitute

My main room (small apartment) is wide and high enough to swing it fully. I'm not well studied in techniques, but how much would you need for an unarmed or knife-armed intruder? The sight of blank steel alone does usually send people running, being chopped up for many is much scarier to imagine than being shot.

Added advantage are likely less legal problems, since using a gun means by definition the possibility of lethal force, whereas using a knife or sword can be much better justified as "not necessarily lethal" and a correct strength-of force relation to the intruder.

Knives? No way. I'm no good at using them except for whittling and I'd prefer not to get too up close and personal with a perp. So my Ruger P89 will just have to do. And I hope and pray I never have to use it.

Any method whether knife, sword or probably a warning shot from a gun, I would agree though that scaring the intruder away would be ideal

I remember the stabbing scene in Saving/Ryan being described by many people as being too painful to watch...does anyone who advocates using a knife or sword ever contemplated what it would be like to stab someone up close and hear their last gurgle or to see the damage your sword has done to a human body?

I'll stick to a gun.

Neither method, and I guess no method really... could be called clean.

Part of what I would consider of too, is the reality that sometimes weapons are taken away and used against the owner. A gunshot is not always fatal. No idea on a sword slash.

Hank, swinging a sword at someone ain't much different from swinging your fist at someone. It's not about "stabbing someone up close", the whole point is to keep your distance.

Likely after the first good hit it would be a bit ugly, we ought to ask Longbow for his personal experience... but by then the matter is decided.

And the aftermath of a gun shot isn't pretty either.

Sword slashes on extremities should not be lethal. If you hit a major blood vessel or organs, things are different.

I'm a lot more worried about an extended civil emergency, especially one arrising out of a bad earthquake, than a home intruder. I have a feeling even New Orleans after Katrina would be a lot more fun than Vancouver after the SHTF. For one thing, I live within easy walking distance of tens of thousands of hardcore drug addicts, who are sure to be in a desperate state if services are disrupted.

My home defence system consists of a motion sensor triggered "vicious dogs" recording, and lights, coupled with cultivating a reputation of been insane and armed. When I was a kid I shot and captured a man stealing my neighbor's motorcycle, and our neighborhood was VERY quiet for years afterwards. I had a problem with vagrants hanging around on the end of my driveway, out of sight from the street traffic. Every morning there would be cigarette butts and beer cans in bags. I got a motion detector with a wireless alarm and set it up to listen to that area. Whenever I got a beep, I would sneak out and give my old mossberg a pump. That cachunk sound is unmistakable. I never said anything, but later overheard a couple of them telling a 3rd one to steer clear of the crazy guy's place. Works for me.
If someone does get in I think the louisville slugger is my weapon of choice. I have several guns, but the risk of being disarmed, misfires, or shooting someone I don't want to kill are to be considered. The perp just better have sense enough to stay down!

I don't see being diarmed as a likely possibility, maybe if you're taken totally by surprise or are too squeamish to use your weapon when needed but the whole deal about "a weapon is more likely to be used against you than anything" is basically some "anti" drivel.

You have to justify use of deadly force in the US as well. Look up the various state Castle laws. There are all sorts of qualifiers and conditions around when the use of deadly force is justified.

the thing is, in canada, in self defence cases you are generally considered guilty until proven innocent, and even if proven innocent you're still guilty if you used a gun.

of course you're considered "innocent until proven guilty" in the "official" sense, but in practice your innocence amounts to nothing and you will await your trial in jail regardless of how long it takes and regardless of the circumstances.

they'll continue to remand you in custody for a year until your trial, at which they'll certainly find you guilty, because canadian justice favors criminals not upstanding citizens.

either way you're going to jail. canada puts people in jail for defending their homes and reporting the incident to police.

hate to say break the law, but if someone breaks into your house and you need to defend yourself, don't report it if you don't need to. because you WILL be jailed and the criminal WILL walk free.

if anyone thinks this is bs, why not go look at cases where people in urban centers defended their homes against burglaries, kidnappings or other dangerous people. then look at what happens to people who defend property - they REALLY get the shaft. you better not get attached to anything you own in canada because if it gets stolen and you kill to defend it you're going to jail for life.

I was just thinking from personal experience. I have never had a gun taken from me, or any other weapon, and even a ball bat would be bad news if the bad guy took posession. I have more experience in boxing, wrestling, and clubs, so would be more confident there. Additionally I don't care to keep a loaded gun at bedside, but a bat has stood in the corner for years. No real qualms about shooting someone who intends to do me harm, and if they were in my bedroom doorway at night, with my poor vision I would have to shoot several times to insure that they were no longer a threat, no time to ask for what they are up to.

Personally, I'd be fairly certain he hasn't that in mind as I can't recall the last time we had a burglary-rape in this country. Most rapists here prey on drunk or single women coming home from a night out.

Also, it's extremely rare for home robbers here to be agressively armed. 99% of murders here are either "family tragedies" or criminals killing eachother, with the majority being the former.

So keep that in mind when you belittle laws in other countries that are not the same as yours, that the circumstances might not be present in those countries to warrant such laws.

Øystein

The last school-rampage-shooting in Germany was done by a boy who used the gun his father had as protection against burglars.

His father is (or was now, maybe), a gun collector who had decided to break the gun laws of Germany, and stored one handgun fully loaded in his bedside drawer. It should have been locked in the gun safe with the rest of the weapons, and the key nowhere in the house. IIRC Germany mandates that you keep your keys to your gun safe with you, you're not allowed to leave them at home, for instance.

Hey Oystein, who's belittling who here?!? I'm talking about common crimes in MY CITY, not Norway!

Oh, and while I beleive thats what you have heard about from your media, you might want to ask a homicide detective in one of your cities and ask him directly about how many cases he gets a year, and confirm the types of cases they are... in the 70's and 80's Canadian news media RARELY even reported murder cases...dunno why, but they didnt. Just because you didnt read about it in the news doesnt mean it didnt happen.

Gentlemen, you've been doing a good job of keeping this thread civil and on track. Keep it that way.

I'd like to, if I can, keep this in the CH. It's borderline CE (or whatever the latest forum title is), but I'm OK with it.

I can move it if need be.