What is a good legal self defense weapon to have around the house?

to defend my family againts home invasion, burglaries and stuff like that...I don%26#039;t want a gun because I have a little boy.|||as the case of the football player in Florida and his machete showed, if you scare the intruders they may just shoot you to death.





so bats and machetes and swords are out.





guns -- if you shoot the window out [make lots of noise], from hiding, and then stay silent, intruders may run away. on the other hand, if you can%26#039;t keep silent and hidden the intruders may just shoot you dead.





dogs -- useful deterrent, esp. if they start barking before any intruder is actually in the house. weapon? an armed intruder might kill the dog. If he%26#039;s then hurt, he may decide to revenge himself on you -- and you%26#039;re dead again.





noisy alarm system -- very useful, esp. if monitored and the local police show up quickly.





pepper spray -- can%26#039;t recommend it. you have to be too close to use it. that makes you vulnerable to any weapon the intruder has and what if there are two of them? [in the Florida case, there were apparently three intruders.]





taser -- not useful on multiple intruders. disabled one can%26#039;t run away, so buddy sticks around to help him and shoots you just in case you have another taser.








what did i leave out?|||a metal baseball bat or a Dog





buying a shotgun with an approved safety lock would be better, but that choice is of course yours.|||Get a gun and educate your child on them. I%26#039;ve been shooting guns sense I was 5 years old and so has my son. There have been no accidents because he knows not to touch them. I%26#039;ve shown him what happens to things when they are shot and explained to him how much it would hurt or even kill him if it should go off.





You can use pepper spray or some dumb thing like that but if there is more than one person, your spray and knives won%26#039;t do squat. I have a Colt .45, a German Luger, a .22 revolver and that doesn%26#039;t include all (and I own several) rifles and shotguns.





The trick is educating your family so they can do the job should you get hurt.|||Pepper spray.|||Model 500 Mossberg 12 Ga. Then teach your child proper gun etiquette and safety|||Get yourself a taser. I bought 2. One is a police style taser that looks like a gun, one is a small handheld taser that I gave my fiance for her purse.





Both shoot out the hooks (or whatever you call them) and so you can be up to 15 feet away, plus after they shoot out, you can quickly yank that part out and your taser turns into the kind you ram into their body. But keep a bad near by too so after they%26#039;re on the ground you can beat them senseless until the cops come. Or be prepared to kick them repeatedly because eventually the taser batteries will deplete and eventually he will be able to get back up.





http://www.taser.com|||alarm system on your house


i know thats not really a weapon


but might keep them from getting into your door


so you wouldn%26#039;t need a weapon. they even have stickers that say never mind the dog beware of the owner.


criminals might get discouraged from trying to break into your house if they thought you might be armed|||Household items make the best weapons...a golf club can kill a man, spray plaint can blind someone, screwdriver in the throat, etc etc...u dont need formal weapons...u just need a predisposition towards homicide...|||I%26#039;m all in favor of the 2nd Amendment and own several guns, but I have to tell you, if you don%26#039;t carry one one you the entire time, or sleep with one under the pillow (most people don%26#039;t) then they%26#039;re really not all that good for home defense. Besides, you have the added burden of proving in court that there was no other alternative. So, as you said, let%26#039;s leave guns out of it.





Pepper spray isn%26#039;t a bad idea, or even your own taser. They%26#039;re not like the police tasers that shoot out wires and hook to the person, just a couple electrodes that you have to get in real close to use. Better than nothing, I suppose.





Forgive me for making the ad pitch, as I teach martial arts %26amp; defense, but really it%26#039;s the only %26#039;weapon%26#039; that you carry with you at all times. And it%26#039;s not just limited to the home. You can carry it with you at all times in public and you don%26#039;t need any special licenses for it (in spite of the urban legends).





Problem is, it does take a little time commitment to get decent at it. You don%26#039;t need a 3-yr black belt course, just a few weeks of self-defense training. But still time, nonetheless. And lastly, just like guns, tasers, pepper spray, and everything else, it%26#039;s not infallible. It%26#039;s still possible to find yourself in a situation where there%26#039;s just NO damned thing you can do about it.





But all things considered, it%26#039;s probably your best single option for almost any situation. Besides, the added confidence makes you much less likely to even seem like a viable victim to a potential predator.|||A sword, Chinese fighting stars, nun chucks.......|||Consider raising a German Shepherd from a pup. He will bond with all your family and be very loving, watchful and protective.





Did you know that a German Shepherd is the only breed that doesn%26#039;t see a glass window as a barrier and will jump through glass to protect its family.





If you decide to have any weapons etc in your home you better be perpared to only use as much force as deemed necessary and is justifiable in a court of law.





Stick with the German Shepherd.|||Big *** dog|||There are hundreds of millions of gun owners in this country, and not one of them will have an accident today. The only misuse of guns comes in environments where there are drugs, alcohol, bad parents, and undisciplined children. Period.


Ted Nugent





Oh ,the answer 12 or 20ga shotgun!|||Having children in the house is not an excuse to be ill prepared to defend yourself and them. I have had children for my entire career as a Law Enforcement Officer. And my wife and I taught the boys how to shoot and how to safely handle the guns. And we taught them to leave the guns alone unless we are with them. Millions of police officers and hunters and gun owners have properly taught their children the same safety lessons. If your children are too little to learn or to unruly to obey then you might consider the other non-lethal options. But most of them will only delay the burglar, killer or rapist. And with kids in the house you will be unable to run away. I had 4 little boys and 2 girls and they all learned to leave Dads guns alone.