Keyring is an offensive weapon?

[Kevinf2349]

I am not sure if this has been posted yet so here goes

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scot ... 606969.stm

I worry about my 'old country'. OK the guy is a slimeball for driving drunk...but a little 5" piece of metal on a keyring is an offensive weapon?

Actor Darren Day guilty of offensive weapon charge

Darren Day was appearing in a Queen musical in Edinburgh at the time
Entertainer Darren Day has been found guilty of possessing an offensive weapon by a court in Edinburgh.

The actor had claimed during a two-day trial at the city's sheriff court that it had not occurred to him a keyring he owned could be considered a weapon.

He had previously admitted a drink-driving charge dating from the same night in December 2009, when he was starring in musical We Will Rock You.

The 41-year-old was banned from the roads for five years and fined £1,250.

Sheriff William Holligan admonished Day in respect of the weapon charge due to the "particular facts and circumstances".

During the trial, Day said he had carried the kubotan keyring, a 5in-long metal stick given to him by a friend, for 14 years.

The weapon was found when he was arrested by Lothian and Borders Police after his Mercedes hit a lamppost in Manor Place in Edinburgh.

Day, who is well known for dating a string of glamorous women including actress Anna Friel, said he was shocked when he was charged by police, and had told them the item was not an offensive weapon.

But during the trial, the sheriff was told by two martial arts experts from Lothian and Borders Police that the kubotan was designed in the 1970s for use by the Los Angeles Police as a self-defence weapon and in a worst case scenario could be used to kill someone.

So can a rope, a pencil, a hand...where will it all stop?

[chabouk]

I am not sure if this has been posted yet so here goes

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scot ... 606969.stm

I worry about my 'old country'. OK the guy is a slimeball for driving drunk...but a little 5" piece of metal on a keyring is an offensive weapon?

Well, thank goodness he wasn't a pensioner hobbling about on a cane!

http://www.esnews.co.uk/?p=1158&paged=3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[jimlongley]

Who is Anna Friel?

[cougartex]

Who is Anna Friel?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Friel" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[SQLGeek]

Here is the "keyring" they are saying is a weapon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubotan" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Seems a bit much to me, unless they are going to start calling keys, pens and pencils weapons as well.

[RPB]

Here is the "keyring" they are saying is a weapon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubotan" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Seems a bit much to me, unless they are going to start calling keys, pens and pencils weapons as well.

And the mini-maglite flashlight on keychains, which can be used as a kuboton
(Such as the 3-cell AAA Model XL100)

[SQLGeek]

Good point! I thought of those after I posted that.

[RPB]

lol, I've had a collection of 2 and 3 cell maglites since the 1970s probably, along with leather and nylon belt holsters for them. The battery caps have the attachment point for keychains. (My keychain is roughly 24"-30" long anyway and has a bit of weight to it anyway, in order to remind me if I'm about to go out the door without it and notice I'm travelling "light" ...I rarely forget my keys or lock them in the car/house etc. If you see a guy swinging a long keychain as if it were nunchucks while leaving HEB ... That'd be me, getting the key out to open my car door. )

[jimlongley]

Who is Anna Friel?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Friel" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I even looked here, and I still don't know. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0295484/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[TDDude]

Here is the "keyring" they are saying is a weapon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubotan" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Seems a bit much to me, unless they are going to start calling keys, pens and pencils weapons as well.

IT'S A STICK FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!

[neilp]

I worry about my 'old country'.

+1. I miss the place in some ways, but as it is now apparently illegal to defend yourself in any way I'm glad I no longer live there.

[stroo]

Generally you can not take a kuboton on a commercial airline for the same reason as it is called an offensive weapon here. But you can take a maglite or a steel barreled pen on a flight with no problem.

[RPB]

Generally you can not take a kuboton on a commercial airline for the same reason as it is called an offensive weapon here. But you can take a maglite or a steel barreled pen on a flight with no problem.

Right
My 2 and 3 cell minimaglites are flashlights, not kubotans, even though I know how to use a kubotan
And the 6-D-Cell Maglites in cars are not "clubs" but flashlights.
Two maglights, each with a metal swivel snap so you can connect them (oops, I mean hang them up on something) aren't nunchucks, unless maybe if they accidently got hooked to each other.
My keychain isn't a martial arts whip chain, it's a keychain.
My steel barreled pen ran out of ink in the 1980s, I carry it in case I find refills someday, if I didn't have it with me, I might forget.

However, the Richardson Police Dept took one of my pair of Nunchucks from the 1970s, .... you aren't allowed to carry those; apparently my freind I loaned them to to practice with forgot and left them under his car seat ...