Home Defense without Guns

So the question often comes up: if you can't have firearms--for whatever reason--what should you use to defend your home in time of need? It's a real question for people in countries with restrictive anti-gun laws, or for people who can otherwise not have firearms in their home.

So, let's look at some considerations for this kind of use.

1. Narrow hallways and doorways, with varying ranges--extreme close up to several yards.
2. Often a "barricade" type situation--get the family to a hardened point and defend.
3. Couches, tables, and other furniture to get in the way.
4. May need to be used by any capable member of the family--mom, dad and older children, with varying degrees of interest and experience.

Many will recommend a sword or other baseball bat. However, the narrow hallways and doorways can hinder the full-power swings needed. Movie example: Kill Bill 2's trailer fight w/ katanas. While a katana, long sword, or other may be a devastating weapon on an open field, they just don't have the room to work inside a home. Clubs and bats run into similar problems.

You could go with a shorter sword/machete type blade for this kind of environment, but the weapon still requires some room to swing. Also, you sacrifice range and strength/physicality/training become a more significant requirement. The kind of range you're working in is less forgiving.

Simple and functional, a spear is an excellent
choice for defending your home if firearms are not an option.

So--you want a weapon that functions with straight-line jabs, vs. slashing swings. You want a weapon that can give its wielder some distance from the bad guy. You want a spear.

A spear, functioning with short stabby thrusts, gives you some distance from your opponent. It is an ideal weapon for defending the frontdoor, bedroom, or stairway. The straight-line attacks are not hindered by narrow hallways or doorways, and a furious barrage of jabs will keep an attacker at bay. Spears have a variable range--you can hold the weapon at the end of the shaft for the longest range, or choke up as needed.

Furthermore, the spear is fairly intuitive in its use and does not require great strength to wield, making it ideal for use by the inexperienced. Bayonets--basically a spear--have been standard army issue for a long, long time, because they're simple to teach and they just work.

Cold Steel produces several spears, which are available on such obscure websites as Amazon. The Boar Spear with standard length shaft towers at near 7-feet, which may be too long. I would cut down the shaft to a more manageable 5 or so feet for this kind of use. While I do not personally own one, the Assegai with Short Shaft looks like may be the best out of the box offering. It's 38-inches of African-styled war spear, made for a powerful gut/chest stab. Can be used one or two handed, and runs for an affordable $40-$50.