It's a heck of a lot easier and effective to buy a legal weapon/implement right now and put it in a safe place, rather than improvise devices later. Therefore, I find the premise in the OP silly.

I'd buy a couple of bows and a few legal knives and store them in a cool, dry and secure place.

Slingshot.

Nice and light.
ammunition is everywhere, just grab a stone lying on the ground.
Tends to be easy to conceal too.
You can use it to riccochet missles/projectiles around corners to see if an enemy is hidding/sheltering there too.

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I believe the anarchists cookbook has you all beat on creativity with the shot gun grenade launcher. (of course you would have to use something else as a prepellent, maybe just gunpowder down a tube).

The way i look at it though, were screwed if we lose our guns, so i think i'd rather die trying to keep them, than die later attacking the government with rocks and clubs.

***Resurrection***

Obviously from the posts, you can tell we have never lived in a post Apocalyptic World lol.

We wouldnt be using rocks and clubs, if we were to loose the means to locally make gunpowder, How effective will those guns be until your able to figure out a means to use them with another propellant.

Cars, buildings, Broken Electronics, Honestly, We would be able to find the materials to make other types of guns, the funniest thing is, In a landfill, theres enough material to build almost anything we have in stores now.

Our Possibilities end only when our imagination does.

[edit on 1-9-2009 by Trance Optic]

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When I was a kid I would always build forts and booby trap them lol. We would also make spears and learn how to throw them with decent accuracy. I also one time made a bow and some arrows out of a simple tree branch and thick twine...it was pretty good but I don't know if it was strong enough to kill an animal.

A personal and regular favorite thing to do with idle time at work, is to take anything I can get my hands on and figure out a way to utilize it as a weapon.
While it does not sound like much, I assure you, having a bit of experience in using everyday objects as defensive and offensive weapons is a good thing if sit.X happens. Even in a normal urban setting, it's good to know what you can use to defend yourself, should the situation call for it.

Screwdrivers are just great, as is almost any hand tool.
The afore mentioned clothing is effective as well.
So are keys and lanyards.

I know this is going to get a bit laughable but here goes nothing:
Milk crates, are a favorite of mine. I can actually handle one with deadly resolve.
If you are sitting on one and a would be assailant approaches and starts some beef, whip it out from underneath yourself and handle your "biznezz".

Ordinary salt and pepper shakers are especially useful, while in public.
Empty the contents into your hand and throw it into the eyes of an attacker. Even if you miss, some will undoubtedly get in there.
Don't forget about the shakers themselves.
Nice Hard Glass.
A little chip on the edge of a table and now you have a sharp edge.

A nice bit of thick rope, can be very effective if you add a few monkey knots. Nothing fancy, just knot on top of knot.

Soda cans can be crushed and folded, to make an effective stabbing/cutting tool.


Paper is so innocent looking, but a single piece of 81/2 x 11 can be folded in such a way as to make an effective knuckle duster.
How many times can you fold a piece of paper in half?

Plastic bottles are good for this as well.

Pens may not be mightier than the sword literally, but they are far less conspicuous. The nice metal ones are very functional.

Power strips are wieldable like nunchaku.

Pretty much anything you can get your hands on can be turned into a defensive/offensive device.

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Nobody has spoken on this and I will not say much about it. If you are smart you can take this and run with it and I do not need to say much.

Fresnel Lens.

You can find one in any old style Big Screen TV. The screen itself IS a fresnel Lens. You just gotta peel off a layer or two to be able to expose the lens itself.

EXTREME CAUTION should Always be used when playing with Fresnel lenses.

Watch some live links or meta cafe videos about Fresnel Lens.

Also Some study into Magnetic guns revels much. In a civil unrest situation standing up to fellow citizens would not be my concern. Standing up against the Military with their predator planes and satellite imagery would be my concern.

Magnetics are awesome. As are Hydrogen and helium balloons tethered by copper string! Thats my anti air defense idea and I am not going into detail for obvious T&C reasons. Just giving you enough to go on to come up with your own make shift ideas should the need arise....

Which I seriously doubt.

Should this nation goto pot as I suspect it will I further suspect the military will not be keen on following orders but on going home to family and loved ones and doing all in their power to protect those closest to them as opposed to following some tyrants idea of national pacification.

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Hello,
Interesting thread. Couple of tips I have heard about. An anthropologist at a local university was into primitive technology and even instructed a class in its fabrication. He had his students use the bottom of beer bottles or other such brown glass to knap with. He had a nice collection of spear, arrow and knife points all from this type of glass. He said it was quite effective and tough, plus the bottom is thicker, and heavier and resembles natural glass or flint.

As far as having to make arrow heads for arrows, not true. Birch, beech, oak, maple or other hard woods when hardened by burning black in hot coals and ground into points work fine. The mythbusters a while back proved that sharpened points worked every bit as well as arrow heads. For flaming arrows, collect pitch from pine or spruce trees and heat to liquid and soak the arrows in the pitch. Apply multiple coats. Light and away you go. Ever green pitch is great for many other things because of the flammable wood alcohol. Smudge pot for biting fly control or signaling, torches when used in conjunction with green cattails, glue for waterproofing, starting a fire when tinder is wet. The list goes on.

When I was a kid, the electric company replaced some telephone poles, where they used and left behind large square steel washers. I had a great time pounding out the corners into a more crescent shape and grinding an edge on them and using them as ninja stars. They worked great. I was getting pretty good after some practice. About 50 feet straight into the new poles they put up.

I am also a big fan of the quarter staff. All you need is a nice dry straight piece of wood about half your height. I keep an Iron wood (Hophornbeam) walking stick by the bed just in case of evil doers. This is the wood that the samurai used for their practice swords.
Very interesting discussion.

I am also interested in traditional bow making from local woods. I am now using a piece of white ash and white elm, not true bow woods but they do have the correct long and springy wood fiber make up that are preferable for bows.

cheers

sparrow

Sorry Folks, but this is a family friendly site and the last thing we want is for some younger member to try some of the dangerous things that have been posted here and to be hurt.

Closing

Thank you for your participation

Semper