Improvised weapon explained

An improvised weapon is an object that was not designed to be used as a weapon but can be put to that use. They are generally used for self-defence or if the person is otherwise unarmed. In some cases, improvised weapons are commonly used by attackers in street fights, muggings, murders, gang warfare, during riots, or even during insurgencies, usually when conventional weapons such as firearms are unavailable or inappropriate.

Improvised weapons are common everyday objects that can be used in a variety of defensive applications. The objects are generally used in their normal state;^[1] they are not physically altered in any way to make them more functional as weapons.^[2]

Examples

Other than items designed as weapons, any object that can be used to cause bodily harm can be considered an improvised weapon. Examples of items that have been used as improvised weapons include:

• Sports equipment such as baseball bats,^[3] golf clubs,^[4] cricket bats,^[5] hockey sticks,^[6] dumbbells,^[7] and cue sticks.^[8]
• Objects made of glass, such as beer bottles^[9]
• Vehicles, including personal automobiles,^{[10] [11]} rental trucks,^[12] light aircraft, such as a Piper PA-28-236 Dakota^[13] and airliners, such as the Boeing 767^[14]
• Tools such as scissors,^[15] ice axes,^[16] hacksaws,^[17] pliers,^[18] crowbars,^[19] screwdrivers,^[20] sledgehammers,^[21] tire irons,^[22] shovels,^[23] pipe wrenches,^[24] fire extinguishers,^[25] hammers^[26] and entrenching tools.^[27]
• Construction materials, such as 2×4s,^[28] pipes^[29] and bricks^{[30] [31]}
• Natural materials, such as rocks^[32]
• Gardening and agricultural tools, such as axes,^[33] sickles,^[34] scythes,^[35] mattocks,^[36] machetes,^[37] pitchforks^[38] and pickaxes^[39]
• Kitchen utensils, such as kitchen knives,^[40] meat mallets,^[41] ice picks^[42] and meat cleavers.^[43]
• Livestock herding equipment, such as lassos^[44] and whips^[45]
• Maritime equipment, such as grappling hooks,^[46] fishing nets,^[47] spearguns^{[48] [49]} and boat oars,^[50]
• Recreational toys, such as slingshots^[51]
• Furniture, such as chairs^[52]
• Musical instruments, such as didgeridoos^[53] and acoustic guitars^[54]
• Firecrackers and fireworks^[55]

In martial arts

Throughout history, common tools were used so often as weapons in self-defense that many of them evolved specifically into weapons or were adapted with the secondary purpose of being used in self-defense, usually by adding modifications to its design. Well-known examples include the Irish shillelagh, which was originally used as a walking stick; the Japanese bō, which may have originally been used to carry buckets and baskets; and the Buddhist monk's spade, a shovel monks used for burying corpses, which often had sharpened edges to help defend against bandits.

Many martial arts use common objects as weapons; Filipino martial arts such as Eskrima include practice with machetes, canes, bamboo spears, and knives as a result of the 333-year Spanish colonization in the Philippines that prohibited the ownership and use of standard swords and bladed weapons;^[56] Chinese martial arts and some Korean martial arts commonly feature the use of improvised weapons such as fans, hammers and staves. There are even some western martial arts that are based on improvised weapons, such as British quarterstaff fighting and Irish stick fighting.^[57]

After the German Peasants' Wars during 1524 and 1525, a 1542 fencing book edited by Paulus Hector Mair described fencing techniques using a scythe.^[58]

Legal issues

Because of the use of common objects as weapons in violent crimes, many countries have laws that prevent the use of some tools and other non-weapon objects to be used for causing harm. It is possible for a person to be detained or even arrested by a law enforcement official or security personnel for carrying a potentially-harmful object if there is no reasonable use for it. For example, it is legal and perfectly understandable for someone to possess a kitchen knife or a hammer and keep it for use in one's home, but it could be judged suspicious for someone to carry a kitchen knife or a hammer concealed on their person or in plain sight when walking down a city street.

There are places that prohibit people from entering with objects that may be used as weapons. Most public schools in North America do not allow their students to bring pocket knives, butter knives^[59] or chain-wallets, sometimes with harsh zero tolerance policies. Airports typically prohibit objects that could be used as weapons from being carried as a carry-on or in a carry-on bag into the aircraft cabin. The security repercussions after the September 11 attacks saw restrictions widely extended to cover even objects like nail clippers and spiked wristbands.^{[60] [61]}

Makeshift weapons

A makeshift weapon is an everyday object that has been physically altered to enhance its potential as a weapon.^[62] It can also be used to refer to common classes of weapons such as guns, knives, and bombs made from commonly available items.

Examples of makeshift weapons include:

• Millwall brick
• Molotov cocktail
• Shiv
• Improvised firearms
• Marble gun, a type of improvised firearm which shoots marbles
• Improvised artillery is used by multiple factions in the Syrian Civil War. They include the Jahannam cannon, Jahim cannon, thunder cannon, mortar cannon and compressed air cannon.
• Chainlock (improvised flail)
• Garrote
• Stink bomb
• Smoke bomb
• Trench raiding club, a type of improvised wooden club with hammered hobnails around its circumference used for trench raiding during World War I.
• Blackjack/Sap
• Improvised explosive devices
  • A letter bomb is an explosive device sent via the postal service, designed with the intention to injure or kill the recipient when opened.
  • A pipe bomb is an IED that uses a tightly sealed section of pipe filled with an explosive material.
  • A barrel bomb is an unguided IED made to be dropped from helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.
  • A lob bomb is a rocket-fired IED.
• Barrack busters were improvised mortars used by the Provisional Irish Republican Army during The Troubles.
• Acid packets were used by rioters during the Citizenship Amendment Act protests in India^[63]

The improvised Molotov cocktail was used with great success by the heavily outnumbered Finnish forces in the Winter War against the Soviet Union. The mixture of flammable petroleum, often thickened with soap or tar, was so effective against the Soviet tanks that the Finns began mass producing Molotov cocktails, and issuing them to their troops. While the first documented use of such improvised incendiary devices was in the Spanish Civil War, their use in the Winter War was much more prevalent, and it was at that time they were named after the Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov, to match the Molotov bread baskets.^[64]

See also

• Insurgency weapons and tactics
• List of criminal enterprises, gangs, and syndicates
• List of riots
• TM 31-210 Improvised Munition Handbook
• Suicide attack
• Suicide weapon
• Vehicle-ramming attack

External links

• Improvised Self Defence Weapons

Notes and References

1. Web site: Zorn. Steve. Defensive Use of Improvised Weapons. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20130203210105/http://www.usadojo.com/articles/defensive-use-improvised-weapons.htm. February 3, 2013. USA dojo. 3 March 2005.
2. The Bourne Arsenal: Use Anything as a Weapon by DARRIN COOK, ASIN: B07MNLJJVY
3. Web site: Baseball bat as used was a deadly weapon. 2010-06-09. https://web.archive.org/web/20100725215732/http://www.tjpc.state.tx.us/publications/reviews/99/99-4-10.htm. 2010-07-25. dead.
4. Web site: Mayorga. Carlos. May 10, 2010. N. Ogden man charged in golf course assault with deadly weapon. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110718163540/http://www.standard.net/topics/golf/2010/05/10/n-ogden-man-charged-golf-course-assault-deadly-weapon. July 18, 2011. 5 June 2010.
5. News: Self defence or malicious revenge? Jail for brothers who beat burglar with bat. James. Sturcke. The Guardian . December 14, 2009. www.theguardian.com.
6. Web site: Banker. Andy. December 12, 2012. Hockey Stick Used To Break Man's Jaw.
7. News: Terre Haute Tribune-Star. February 6, 2008. Wabash Valley Correctional Facility inmate in critical after attack. 5 June 2010.
8. Web site: N.C. man arrested after allegedly hitting man with pool cue at bar in Wildwood. July 23, 2021. Villages-News: News, photos, events in The Villages, Florida.
9. Web site: Police say broken bottle was wielded as weapon in Princeton robbery. 5 June 2010. Ratcliffe . Michael J.. August 2008.
10. Web site: 2016-07-15 . A Short History of Vehicles Being Used as Deadly Weapons . 2023-08-17 . NBC News . en.
11. Web site: Veilleux-Lepage . Yannick . 2017-03-29 . How and why vehicle ramming became the attack of choice for terrorists . 2023-08-17 . The Conversation . en.
12. Web site: Ottley . Ted . Imitating Turner . April 10, 2010 . Timothy McVeigh & Terry Nichols: Oklahoma Bombing . TruTv.
13. Web site: Austin American Statesman Coverage of Plane Crash . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130627061844/http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entries/2010/02/18/austin_police_say_a_plane.html/ . June 27, 2013.
14. News: 2001-09-12 . Twin Towers Demolished, Pentagon Hit in Terrorist Attacks . . 2008-06-10.
15. Web site: Jamestown Woman Used Scissors To Stab Man Holding Child. 22 September 2021.
16. Web site: The Assassination of Leon Trotsky. Encyclopedia Britannica.
17. News: Female student murdered by her classmate in Kottayam college campus. Staff Reporter. The Hindu. October 1, 2021. www.thehindu.com.
18. Web site: Driver attacked with 'large pliers' after road rage incident outside MetroCenter Subway. July 29, 2021.
19. Web site: Jail warning for cleaner following vicious crowbar attack at skatepark. Isle of Wight County Press. 19 September 2021 .
20. Web site: Killings Turn Screwdriver into Unlikely Tool of Death. Los Angeles Times. 3 October 1993.
21. https://books.google.com/books?id=IRhLAAAAYAAJ "The Lawyers reports annotated, Volume 21"
22. Web site: May 19, 2010. Carson City deputies arrest three after fight with tire iron. Carson Now.
23. Web site: FM 3-25.150 Chapter 7. www.globalsecurity.org.
24. Web site: Son charged with beating mother to death with pipe wrench. 18 August 2021. www.federalwaymirror.com.
25. Web site: Weapon of choice: Fire extinguisher. 5 June 2010. 2006.
26. Web site: Rasmussen. Cecilia. August 8, 1994. Clara Phillips was never one to mask.... Los Angeles Times.
27. Web site: WWI's Weapon of Doom Was An Entrenching Tool?. January 23, 2022. SOFREP.
28. https://books.google.com/books?id=IRhLAAAAYAAJ "The Lawyers reports annotated, Volume 21"
29. Web site: Man accused in fatal lead pipe beating pleads not guilty - Las Vegas Sun Newspaper. Cara. McCoy. April 5, 2010. lasvegassun.com.
30. News: Mayfair partygoers throw bricks at riot police. 5 June 2010. February 2010 . London . The Times.
31. Web site: Attack happened in Kings Furlong. 5 June 2010. Gregory. Chris. May 2010.
32. News: Hadad. Shmulik. May 2010. 9 officers hurt in east Jerusalem riots. 5 June 2010. Ynetnews.
33. Web site: A Forged Deed and a Bloody Trunk: Mary Farmer's Plot to Steal Her Landlord's Home. November 27, 2019. www.mentalfloss.com.
34. Web site: The Sickle | The Occult Revival.
35. https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/pune-news/five-minors-detained-in-attempt-to-murder-case-101653933116240.html
36. Web site: 5 of History's Most Notorious Unsolved Ax Murders. March 18, 2022. Mental Floss.
37. Web site: Life Hack: Using the Machete as an Effective Weapon. July 10, 2019.
38. Web site: Medieval Men - Medieval-Period.com. medieval-period.com. 2019-11-10. 2017-08-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20170812011048/http://www.medieval-period.com/medievalmen.html. dead.
39. News: EXECUTION IN TEXAS: THE OVERVIEW; Divisive Case of a Killer of Two Ends as Texas Executes Tucker. Sam Howe. Verhovek. The New York Times. February 4, 1998.
40. Web site: Susan Wright re-sentenced to 20 years in prison for husband's murder . KHOU . 2 November 2010 . 31 March 2022.
41. Web site: 9th Circuit calls for new sentencing hearing for Arizona death row inmate. July 27, 2013. Arizona Daily Independent.
42. News: Ice Picks Are Still Used as Weapons. Wendy. Ruderman. The New York Times. August 31, 2012.
43. News: Man jailed for Handsworth meat cleaver attack. BBC News. September 17, 2021.
44. Book: The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture. Otto. Maenchen-Helfen. Otto. Helfen. January 1, 1973. University of California Press. 9780520015968. Google Books.
45. Web site: Whips in Combat | The Bullwhip FAQ.
46. News: Have hired guns finally scuppered Somali pirates?. Reuters. February 12, 2013. www.reuters.com.
47. Web site: Retiarii. www.tribunesandtriumphs.org.
48. News: JET LANDS SAFELY AFTER ATTACK ON CREW . en-US . Washington Post . 2023-07-17 . 0190-8286.
49. Web site: Speargun killer jailed for life. 5 August 2005. The Age.
50. Web site: Police: Man Beats Women With Brick and Boat Oar. Johnathan. Hogan. Idaho State Journal. 5 December 2018 .
51. Web site: This Woman Shows Protests Are Ageless. June 12, 2013. HuffPost.
52. Web site: Woman charged with assault after allegedly throwing chairs. Uticaod.
53. Web site: Melbourne man arrested for allegedly bashing footy fan with a didgeridoo. 9News. 25 May 2022 .
54. Web site: Guitar-Smashing Comedian Kenny Moore Recalls Infamous Heckling Moment . GuitarPlayer.com . 15 April 2020 .
55. Web site: Fireworks attack on French police sparks protest. October 12, 2020. France 24.
56. Web site: Escrima - The Filipino Martial Art. 2010-06-09. https://web.archive.org/web/20100606064546/http://psychjourney_blogs.typepad.com/warrior_traditions/2009/01/escrima---the-filipino-martial-art.html. 2010-06-06. dead.
57. Book: Hurley, John W. . Shillelagh: The Irish Fighting Stick . Caravat Press . 2007 . 978-1-4303-2570-3. https://books.google.com/books?id=ZrFMHmsMmWAC&dq=shillelagh+the+irish+fighting+stick&pg=PA347
58. http://mdz10.bib-bvb.de/~db/bsb00006570/images/index.html?seite=411 Digitale Bibliothek - Münchener Digitalisierungszentrum
59. Web site: Girl arrested for butter knife in backpack.
60. Web site: Post-9/11 Airport Security: Do You Know Where Your Dignity Is?. World Hum.
61. Web site: What Can I Bring?. Transportation Security Administration.
62. Improvised Weapons & Munitions – U.S. Army Ultimate Handbook: How to Create Explosive Devices & Weapons from Available Materials: Propellants, Mines, Grenades, ... Fuses, Detonators and Delay Mechanisms by U.S. Department of the Army, Madison & Adams Press, ASIN: B06WGP4FJZ
63. Web site: Delhi violence: Not just 'petrol bombs', 'acid packets' also found on AAP neta Tahir Hussain's terrace [VIDEO]]. www.timesnownews.com. 27 February 2020 .
64. Web site: None.