If you do not keep a gun in your house, do you have anything else that you keep around specifically for use as a weapon?

Louisville slugger. In the corner next to the bed.

No, I’ve always felt that it’s best to learn to use what you have available than to rely on a special object. I have kitchen knives, vases, lamps, candles, fabreeze, scarves, and tons of other things all very capable of inflicting damage if used properly.

Nope. Nothing. Look, I am still alive!

@ragingloli You live in Germany, right?

My mom had what she called a “crackhead be good stick” lol… she lived in a pretty foul part of town and the neighbors were known crackheads. My stepdad, a large machine mechanic, took a piece of PVC pipe about a foot and a half long, shaved down one end to make a handle that easily fit into my mom’s small hands, and he plugged the top half or so of it with lead.

I’ve got a bayonet and a Walther P-38 in my dresser. But since I studied kung fu for some years, if I hear a noise I usually walk around the house in the dark in a fighting stance. Which I know sounds really nerdy.

I have a big old aluminum baseball bat right next to the bed. I am seriously considering replacing it with a Mag-lite full of D cells (probably like the @tinyfaery has). Those things are heavy but easy to swing, and would be harder for someone to grab from me than a baseball bat.

For the record, I do not think keeping something like this is a sign of paranoia. I think it is a sign of common sense. Kind of like the common sense that keeps a woman from walking down a dark alley at night. Paranoia would be more denoted by a loaded 38 under the pillow.

@cockswain, lurve for the visual you walking around the house in fighting stance put in my head! The first stance that came to mind was crane!

When I was younger, still living in my parents’ house, I slept with a dagger under my pillow. I still have that dagger (along with several other really good knives), though they now live in my wardrobe.

My husband’s a really big guy, with plenty of real-world fighting experience. He’s the closest thing to me that I can consider a weapon. In another year or so, I’ll mention my dog as well (he’s still a puppy).

If I’m at home alone, I’ll often bring my heavy knife with the three-pronged deer antler pommel out of hiding. It’s plenty sharp and has myriad options for combat. I’d bring my swords out, but my ceilings are very low (only about 7½ feet), and they would be cumbersome and not very effective.

Nothing official. I guess what I mean is I never thought about if I had a weapon or not? But, I guess there are things in or on my nightstand I could grab if I had to try to knock someone out. I do make sure I lock all of my doors, set my alarm, and I have always thought I would run out my back door if I thought someone broke in. I have a door to the back patio from my master bedroom.

No.

I live in Southwestern, Ontario, Canada and the idea of having a weapon near my bed has never crossed my mind. I don’t know one person around here who keeps a weapon near them when they sleep.

Around 10–15 year ago, a good amount of people around here didn’t even lock their doors.

Welcome to Canada.

@papayalily Anything can be a weapon. I’d throw my lava lamp, my shoes, my pillow if I had to.

@jjmah Sure. Rub it in. Someone is killed within a 15 mile radius of my house pretty much everyday.

Baseball bat beside the bedside cabinet, I also have two live bladed historical swords mounted on my bedroom wall…oh yeah, also the cat, she’s as mean as hell ;-)

I’m my own weapon, and I am not being facetious by saying this. I’ve had to defend myself physically over the years and I’ve had to use my own body to fend off attacks.

Hey. This is not the social section, or about locking doors, or feeling you don’t need a weapon.

FYI, the baseball bat I keep near the bed is less a reflection of the neighborhood where I live than it is a reflection of my desire to be prepared. The fact of the matter is that crime can happen anywhere from the poshest suburb to the inner-city. It is kind of like the smoke detector and carbon monoxide detectors I have in the house, not paranoia, it is being prepared just in case.

The sledge hammer and machete would be useful for self defense.

The major cause of mayhem or death in my ‘hood are drunken teen-aged drivers and domestic violence (also usually related to beer.)

I keep a can of pepper spray in my pocket when I walk on dirt roads only because of an occasional aggressive dog. I also keep dog biscuits in another pocket. That works better,

@Facade those seem so unwieldy and hard to control! I am pretty sure that if I tried to pick up a sledgehammer in the middle of the night, the attempt would knock me on my a$$!

My XXX wife used to be enough to scare anyone away. Those that weren’t, became statuesque decor of Medusa’s folly.

Now I have a dog, and a whole buncha’ frightened statues for him to pee on.

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies Gods, I love your references to your ex. ^_^

@SuperMouse My SO’s pretty handy with it. It’s really for work, but he keeps it here.

I have one of the old-style policeman’s wooden baton’s here, just under the bed. I don’t think about it much, but it is there.

@Facade I see! Having someone around who can wield them effectively makes those some pretty impressive security devices!

I keep a baseball bat. I also keep a very large wrench under my car seat.

I guess Milo doesn’t count?

Anything I can get my hands on.

And a gun. ;-)

We have a baseball bat, and assorted impromptu weapons. If all else fails, I will set my ferrets on them. It’s hard to rob/murder someone with an angry weasel up your pant leg >=]

I have two baseball bats within reach. One lays between the mattress and bed frame when I can easily reach down and grab it and the other is behind the headboard. I can easily reach down and grab it as well.

I find an ax handle is handy in a pinch (without the blade).

Sundown you better take care, if I find you been creepin’ round my back stairs.

Nope…. no weapons around, whatsoever.
I have not even yet ever considered the need for it, either.

No, I don’t. From time to time I’ve thought about what I could use if I had to, but my golf clubs and knives and such are all downstairs.

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies I love Gordon Lightfoot.

The knives in the kitchen are the closest we have to a weapon.

We have a bunch of dangerous crap in the garage, but not very handy…

No, there is nothing we keep specifically for that purpose. But, if necessary, we’d find something.

We have a paintball gun (ie a toy gun) that we didn’t buy specifically for this, but it’s kept in the bedroom ready for use if needs be.
And sometimes i have pepperspray that i keep in my handbag, in the car or next to my bed.
I’d also make use of severel small heavy items around the house like clocks, crockery, books, vases and candles.
I don’t know if they specifically make me feel safer, because sometimes there’s only so much you can do once someone is within attacking distance from you. What makes me feel safe((r) is keeping them out of the house in the first place, and for that we have burglar bars, an alarm and electric fencing around the property, as well as a security gate in the hallway leading to the bedrooms.

a baseball bat

I have a 10 lbs Chihuahua/Pomeranian who is 13 years old, arthritic and has no front teeth. That’s all the defense I need.

wow…. terrifying deterrent, you have, @jjmah :-)

Watch out @whitenoise, he’ll gum you to death.. if he catches up to you.

Me and the other doggies always get along :-). But then…. I am cuddly.

what would MacGuyver do?

I have a Louisville slugger in the closet, and a black jack (police issue) hanging by bedroom door.

I have thought about this issue in the past. I think what would be equally effective is if someone came into the house, if you threw something big and heavy through the window (anything from a candlestick to a chair – anything that would break the window) that would cause enough noise that it would scare the person and also the neighbors might call the cops or come to investigate. That would be something that you could do if the person were across the room, so that hopefully they don’t even come near you – they’d be too nervous dealing with what’s going to happen now that this ruckus has occurred.

I have nothing specific in here that I keep as a ’‘weapon’’, no. But I guess there are plenty of things around my place I could use in the guise of one. I have a few medieval weapon replicas, broadswords, daggers and a two handed battle axe. While these are not real and not very sharp, they are damn heavy and could probbaly hurt someone bad…I don’t know. I just figure that if I need to defend myself in my own home, whatever is close will work. An ashtray, a mug, a broom, whatever. I have no training in melee combat whatsoever, so even if I had a specific item as a designated means of defense, I probably wouldn’t be able to use it any better than whatever random blunt or sharp object that happens to sit around next to me while trying to cockblock some freak.

I have no guns and no weapon(s) at the ready although I think fast and could improvise if ever they was the need.

My wife has been gone 3 months and I’ve been alone except for two dogs that would bark at an intruder but have never been tested on their defensive inclinations.

I’m disabled and can’t really defend myself well. I don’t worry.

A baseball bat and a lead pipe.

even withOUT guns, y’all are some violent folks!

@stratman37 LOL Actually, I’d think twice about using the baton. The odds are highly likely that the person could easily take it away from me and I’m the one who’d end up getting hurt. I don’t own anything worth getting beat up for – they can take it all if they’ll just take it and go. It’s only a question of my personal physical safety that would prompt me to that extreme.

One rainy night, I guess I left my door unlocked when I came back in with my dog. I had fallen asleep in the recliner, and it was my dog barking crazily (from my lap, the wuss, but he sounds fierce) that woke me up.

I looked at the front door, and an obviously wet, shuffling, (and, I later noticed, very smelly) homeless man had opened the door and was just sticking his head in. I couldn’t hear what he was saying. He might have just been asking for food, I have no idea.

I was so terrified of escalating a scary but harmless situation into a physically dangerous one that I just sat in my recliner and didn’t move, but said to him very sternly, “You need to leave NOW!” over and over again, over my dog’s barks and growls.

He backed out and closed the door, I gave him about 10 seconds, and rushed to the door to lock it.

I’m guessing he was looking for a place to get out of the rain, and maybe a handout. I don’t think he was dangerous.

But I think situations can become potentially more dangerous if you react too forcefully.

It was weird, because I always lock my door – this was just a fluke. I was probably distracted getting me and my dog out of the rain. But it just happened to be the night this guy came along trying doors.

Our cat. Any mouse entering our house is doomed.

Okay, definitely showing my generation, here, but does anyone remember that cheesy early 90’s movie “Three Ninjas” – about the kids learning matrial arts from their creepy grandpa, and they end up defending themselves and their house from the three stoner pizza guys?

I would totally want to protect myself like they did – curry powder bombs made from coffee filters, and Coke laced with Ex-Lax.

@Seek_Kolinahr Bwaha I remember that. I think some sequels, or at least one, was made, too.

@Symbeline There were at least 2 sequels made. I totally had crush on Colt.

I have a large sword that I usually keep by my bed. Not a reproduction; I bought it from a blacksmith. It’s not the best, most balanced sword out there, but it could definitely bring some hurtin’ on someone.

I’m not sure of any other weapon-like things we have in the house. We have a baseball bat and a BB gun in the hall, and a whole buttload of pocket knives, and Bowie (hehe) knives, laying around. I live in a small, country-like town, but I am only minutes from the second largest city in New Hampshire. My house has been broken into in the past, and when I was a kid I remember a lot of policemen searching my front yard looking for a murder weapon that a guy threw out the window of his car.

My mom lives about 20 minutes away, and she keeps a katana by her bed. I’m sure she has a gun somewhere, she used to be (and maybe still is) a member of the NRA.