Quote Originally Posted by Wildtim View Post
In the UK it is illegal to carry a rock, if your intent is to use it in self-defense.
I can raise you one better.
In the UK, a women was convicted for carrying in her purse a small dose of ground household pepper. She carried it with her to have something, anything to defend herself, in case she was assaulted.
And yes, that is sad.

Over here, the laws manage a good balance. Knives are allowed as long as they can't spring open automatically.

But the concept of our laws have 2 definitions:
- weapons which are banned
- illegal weapons.

a banned weapon is any weapon that is on a list that is published in a specific decree. owning such a weapon is illegal, period. On this list are mostly the items that have become popular because of the movies. Spring knives, throwing stars and nunchucks are on this list.
But the concept of an illegal weapon depends on locality and intent. For example, my EDC spyderco is not banned. But if I tried smuggling it into a courthouse or assaulted someone with it, it would be classified as an illegal weapon and as such would land me in a world of trouble.