Thieves!

[Haironyourchest]

There's loads of ways to violently damage a person. The only thing is, once you start down that road you have to commit 100% because there is a chance they will not be a scared teenager, and they will fight for their lives, as would you. If someone's breaking into your home, you have to assume they mean to do you and your family harm, so you would do whatever it takes to "neutralise" the threat, and let the authorities figure it out later. But some tools in a shed? I dunno. Never been in that position myself, thankfully. 

Edited August 7, 2018 by Haironyourchest

[LeeGray]

Chasing some smack head who has nothing to lose down the road isn’t going to end well in any circumstances, definitely better to secure your own as best you can and hope the guy next door has left his shed door open. Most work things can be replaced off the shelf, probably the next day...is that worth dying/getting maimed/going to prison for? Not for me.

[Billhook]

26 minutes ago, LeeGray said:

Chasing some smack head who has nothing to lose down the road isn’t going to end well in any circumstances, definitely better to secure your own as best you can and hope the guy next door has left his shed door open. Most work things can be replaced off the shelf, probably the next day...is that worth dying/getting maimed/going to prison for? Not for me.

Good advice, see what happened to Stokes just to demonstrate how a silly little confrontation can become a massive court case.

You would just need to look at what happened to the Wisbech farmer Tony Martin who shot dead a thief running away.

The real reason he was jailed, quite rightly, was because the thief was running away and he was not in immediate danger and it was premeditated in that he had cut halfway through the cellar steps and been bragging down the local about what he was going to do if he caught them.

On the other hand, a week or two later in another incident a man was woken by a noise in the kitchen, went down to investigate leaving his wife and children upstairs.  The burglar attacked him with a knife, he managed to grab another knife from the drawer and killed his attacker.  He was deemed to be of sound mind and to have acted reasonably and with proportional force , the jury found him innocent and he was allowed to go free.

 

By posting your intentions on this forum you have already shown premeditation,  (and the police would find out if there was a serious incident) so the best advice is do as LeeGray said and also be well insured and enjoy the shopping trip with a load of fresh new tools.

[john p]

Crossbow would do the job nicely and you can get pistol ones... for putting a line into the tree offficer

Putting a line into the tree officer? Sounds like a good way to get your consent forms through easily!

[forestboy1978]

This thing is no toy. Pellets travel at 300 mph and will pierce a can of spam wrapped in a pair of jeans. You have 16 shots too. 

 

It'd pick this battle happily. 1 or 2 in the legs and any man is going to go down. I'd state simply leave or get ****d and if they had balls of absolute steel I'd start capping legs. I want it for home protection too and the Mrs and dog. Don't want the animal to get hurt trying to be a useful creature for once. 

 

Crossbow is crap. 1 shot then useless. Way too dangerous also. 

 

Machete is laughable. I'm not going to slice people limbs off for stealing my stuff. Just aint gonna happen. If they entered the home perhaps yeah but still 16 high velocity steel pellets are far more effective. 

 

Really think if a man was sent to prison now in the UK for shooting robbers in the legs with a legal air pistol people would think it was a joke, even for the UK. 

[woodland dweller]

I remove all the expensive stuff from my van at night, all thats left inside is general carpenters stuff value around

£50 and leave it unlocked. I would rather have them open up and take that than have to fork out hundreds to

have doors replaced. 

I used to have the workshop alarmed but after several 2 in the morning false alarms i disarmed it,  

living where i do in the middle of a wood and 1/2 a mile from road or neighbour i thought going out to investigate

was crazy, what would i do if i came face to face with a thief who would not think twice about putting me in

hospital.

[woody paul]

8 hours ago, eggsarascal said:

 

 

Was that you I saw backed into a driveway in Wormingford this morning?

Nope, I am going back to work today after 12 weeks off after cutting tendon in thumb.

[peatff]

1 hour ago, forestboy1978 said:

Really think if a man was sent to prison now in the UK for shooting robbers in the legs with a legal air pistol people would think it was a joke, even for the UK. 

 

Once you've used it to shoot people it's no longer a legal weapon and is classed as a firearms offence. Unless they are inside your house this is going to get you into trouble.

[Gary Prentice]

1 hour ago, woodland dweller said:

, what would i do if i came face to face with a thief who would not think twice about putting me in

hospital.

We have a couple of pretty big rotties. They're really great big teddy bears of animals and I don't know how they'd react if they perceived a threat to me - but they look the part. 

 

There was a fellow dealing from his car on the street outside a while back, so after several nights I took one of the dogs out. The dog was interested in who I was talking to and put its paws on the open window and peered in while I was having a little chat about @ing off and doing business elsewhere.  I was reasonable in my approach, not looking for an argument and just saying that we didn't want him there. With the dog peering into his eyes and drooling into his lap (really wanting a fuss)  the fellow seemed to decide that he'd be better off elsewhere.

 

Maybe sometimes it's more about appearance that encourages people to stay away than anything else.

[LeeGray]

Isn’t there a Harry Enfield sketch like this somewhere..I’d rip his face off, I’d set his house on fire etc. The two blokes in the pub...