anything carried 'for defence' is by definition an 'offensive weapon'. there are strict limits on items that are exempt from laws restricting carriage in public. you may carry an 'offensive weapon to and from a martial arts or re-enactment activity as long as you are a member of a recognised group and go directly from/to the insured event with no stops along the way. not even for gasoline or to use the toilet. they must be kept in the trunk (boot) of your car while in transit you may freely carry a bladed item as long as the blade is not fixed, or if a folder, has no locking mechanism, as long as it has an edge less than 3 in. you may carry a fixed blade or folder over three inches with or without a lock if you are required to use it in performance of your job. again in the boot (trunk) to/from work without any stops in between. a stick, club, hammer, tire iron, or other tool instantly becomes an illegal offensive weapon if you carry it for defence. you are permitted to defend yourself if attacked first using anything to hand, ie. walking stick, tire iron you are using to change a tire, etc. they would likely frown on a cane that had been marketed as or modified to a defence cane.it's all fuzzy and up to the discretion of the arresting officer who is likely to err on the side of caution and arrest you to let the court sort it out, with you losing days at work and the cost of a defence lawyer. you are a bit better off in your own home where you can defend yourself ith a legal weapon if attacked by a burglar. if he is however retreating you can be arrested for assault.
there was a noted case where a farmer had been burglarised and tormented by local teen aged youths with baseball bats a number of times, had property destroyed animals injured and himself assaulted. he even removed his stairs and used a ladder to go up to his bedroom that he could pull up after him. one night two of the teens broke into his house, bringing a ladder and baseball bats and were climbing up to beat him. he had a legal shotgun (farmers can usually get a shotgun license) and shot at them, wounding one and killing the other. he was arrested and given a long sentence. the wounded one said they were leaving after he fired the first shot that wounded him, so the second shot was thus offensive and illegal, thus he had murdered the other one. this was under a socialist 'labour party' government (uk verion of the dems) who didn't like their poor welfare recipients being bumped off just for assaulting and possibly killing someone better off than they were.
when the conservatives (uk equivalent of the republicans) got back into power, they passed laws allowing you to more properly defend yourself in your own home & that farmer was pardoned and let loose. after the new laws another man was attacked by a burglar in his own kitchen, he picked up a steak knife from the dish drainer at the sink & stabbed the burglar in the leg. the home owner was arrested, but let off when the prosecutors decided he was justified. still had to spend a few days in jail.
of course the majority of cops do not carry weapons. some are allowed to carry tasers or pepper spray. armed officers are available to respond to armed felon reported events. like the old deaf & blind 80+ man who was tasered after repeated unheeded commands for him to put the sword down' (he was carrying a white cane, and facing away from the police.), they actually shot and killed a mentally challenged low IQ young man who confused by the orders to 'put the gun down'. he was carrying a replacement table leg in a plastic bag he'd just bought at a diy store for his mother's table. in both cases a scared sheeple busybody had phoned in a report of a man walking and brandishing a weapon. (the cane was obviously a samurai sword, the table leg a shotgun.
they just supplied 20,000 wearable video camera/recorders for the london police force to help prove their sometime illogical testimony in cases such as i mentioned. the old saw about 'who watches the watchers?'.
edited:
oh, forgot to mention the guy wounded by the farmer had the hutzpah to sue the farmer for his grievous and disabling wounds that he hasd been getting disability payments and welfare from his caring socialist govt. he hobbled into court the first day on his crutches in obvious pain and suffering. luckily the next day he was a bit late for court and was videoed by a reporter running across the street to the court. it made the 9pm news and the case was thrown out the next day. one hopes (as i do not recall) that his disability and welfare money was stopped.
