swords in the news

From time to time, there are stories in the news about people wielding swords. Sometimes it's a crazy guy running around with a sword scaring people, and sometimes it's a badass citizen defending against crime, like this:

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32855934/

"Cops: Med student uses sword to kill intruder

"Baltimore police say a Johns Hopkins University medical student armed with a samurai sword killed an intruder in his garage."

I have a small collection of exotic hand weapons, including a katar and a pair of sai. So I always get a kick out of these kinds of stories.

I was just reading that story too.

I have a Chinese long sword (tai-chi sword) with a Damascus blade. Its a real sword, but strictly for decoration.

"Police are interviewing the student and others and are talking to prosecutors about whether to file charges."

WHAT? The guy killed him and prosecutors aren't sure if they are filing charges? The guy was unarmed and accosted the student. The student then cuts off the dude's hand off with the sword and swipes the guy's chest real bad which ends up killing him. How the hell does this guy not instantly get charged with manslaughter or at the very least, criminal negligence? I mean, yeah maybe he'll get off but i would think the second you kill someone, you get charged right away.

Are you legally allowed to automatically kill someone who enters your house in the United States? It's like a free license to kill? Armed intruder, for sure, but just some idiot who breaks into your garage?

I'm glad I have two big dogs and an alarm system so hopefully it'll never come to this. I've got a pathetic replica of Sting (the sword, not the singer you idiots) but I'd probably use my baseball bat as a deterrent.

Anyway, i don't think it would come to that.

Hey is Baltimore still the murder capital of the States or has Washington DC climbed back on top?

Black Barney wrote:

Are you legally allowed to kill someone who enters your house automatically in the United States?

You have to warn them away first, iirc.

My weapons are all replicas, for display only. But I'm quite certain that I could disembowel somebody with the katar... hypothetically speaking. One of my sai has a hairline crack in it, so I suspect that they wouldn't be reliable. The wavy cultist dagger is sharp, but I suspect that it would be more useful for intimidation value than anything else. Same with the gothic bastard sword, since the blade is slightly warped.

Just now, checking Craigslist, I see that it's a great time to buy swords. Lots of stuff selling cheap locally, $20 for a sword, $5 for a katana. There is an old masonic sword that looks very authentic, but that's going for $275.

Black Barney wrote:

Hey is Baltimore still the murder capital of the States or has Washington DC climbed back on top?

Detroit is the murder capital of the US, once you throw the "unsolved deaths" (such as found floating in the river with three gunshots in their head) back into the statistics.

In the US if someone enters your property without permission you get a tremendous amount of leeway. Were it a handgun there would be virtually no argument. With a bladed weapon he may face charges.

I'm curious if garage means parking garage, or if it mean garage on his house.

Sag.

Mad Dog wrote:

Black Barney wrote:

Are you legally allowed to kill someone who enters your house automatically in the United States?

You have to warn them away first, iirc.

what's 'iirc' again?

Ah ok, yeah this guy warned the dude first so he's ok then I guess. But it's his word again a dead corpse so i guess you can always say you warned the guy, no?

Seems like the warning should be enough, "get the fock out of my garage now or I will legally cut you up with this fucking sword"

yeah, I'd do a 180 pretty quick. As stupid as it sounds, I bet my 80lb golden retriever would be scarier to an intruder than some John Hopkins nerd thinking he's Aragorn standing in front of me in his boxer briefs

Shellhead wrote:

Just now, checking Craigslist, I see that it's a great time to buy swords. Lots of stuff selling cheap locally, $20 for a sword, $5 for a katana. There is an old masonic sword that looks very authentic, but that's going for $275.

This one on eBay is the same as mine. The balance isn't too great though, imho.

Black Barney wrote:

what's 'iirc' again?

"if I remember correctly"

Mad Dog, that's a fine weapon there. Except I don't like the traditional tassel. Somehow it reminds me of those plastic tassels they used to put on the handlebars of bikes made for little girls.

Black Barney wrote:
yeah, I'd do a 180 pretty quick. As stupid as it sounds, I bet my 80lb golden retriever would be scarier to an intruder than some John Hopkins nerd thinking he's Aragorn standing in front of me in his boxer briefs[/quote]

Not to me. I love animals, but I had a paper route for eight years, so I faced hostile dogs on a semi-regular basis. Their biggest drawback is that they lead with the face, which is conveniently near my boot. I would rather not mention any ugly details beyond that. I eventually realized that the dog who hated me the most was always punished by his owners with a rolled-up newspaper. So I was the sonuvabitch who was delivering those damn newspapers. After that, I just felt sorry for him.

Shellhead wrote:

Mad Dog, that's a fine weapon there. Except I don't like the traditional tassel. Somehow it reminds me of those plastic tassels they used to put on the handlebars of bikes made for little girls.

Yeah, I took the tassel off right away and replaced it with a small jade stone on red string that's about keychain sized.

I'm curious if garage means parking garage, or if it mean garage on his house.

That made me think of the opening fight of Highlander. Anyone else?

BradH wrote:

I'm curious if garage means parking garage, or if it mean garage on his house.

That made me think of the opening fight of Highlander. Anyone else?

Me, too! I don't care what anybody says, that first movie rocked! The idea that secret immortals were covertly fighting to the death with swords in our modern society blew me away! And the contrast with professional wrestling in that same scene created an interesting subtext.

Sunpaper is reporting it this way --

According to preliminary reports, a resident of the 300 block of E. University Parkway called police about a suspicious person, department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. An off-duty officer responded about 1:20 a.m. to the area with university security, according to Guglielmi. They heard shouts and screams from a neighboring house and found the suspected burglar suffering from a nearly severed hand and lacerations to his upper body, he said.

The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene.

The student told police that he heard a commotion in the house and went downstairs armed with a samurai sword, Guglielmi said. He saw the side door to the garage had been pried open and found a man inside, who lunged at the student.

Detectives were still interviewing the student and his three roommates Tuesday morning, Guglielmi said. Burglars had already stolen two laptops and a Sony PlayStation from the student's home Monday, according to Guglielmi.

Dennis O'Shea, a spokesman for Johns Hopkins, said all four residents of the house are undergraduate students at the university.

The suspected burglar, whose name was not released pending notification of next of kin, had prior convictions for breaking and entering and had just been released Saturday from a Baltimore County facility, Guglielmi said.