Hi,
I'm wondering what the laws on self-defence are in Vaud. I come from a country where we aren't allowed to carry any defensive weapons i.e a baton, but I disagree with this blanket restriction, and I think the idea that people may carry defensive weapons is an proven deterrent of crime.
In Vaud, can you carry an item that you intend to use specifically for self-defence, without breaking the law? I'm aware of the reasonable force law, which requires that you use no more force than is required to diffuse the situation, but I can't find anything specifically on defensive weapons.
Here is the link to the government page with explanations regarding the legislation concerning weapons. You are welcome to trawl through it to find your answers:
http://www.ejpd.admin.ch/content/ejp...ef_waffen.html
This being said if you have just moved here from the UK, you are less likely to need a defensive weapon than in many places in Europe.
I know when I was being stalked while out walking with my dog in the Langnau - Adliswil area, the police told me they could not help me. They did however suggest I buy pepper spray. Which I think is forbidden in the UK as a female collegue of mine accidently forgot to leave hers here and got into allot of trouble when caught with it in her bag in the UK.
I was able to buy this from a store in Rapperswil (SG) which sells all types of self defense weapons excluding guns I think. I walked in and bought 2 no problem.
Batons are considered weapons for which you need a permit also guns, daggers, brass knuckles, throwing stars, tazers, etc.
It is forbidden to carry "dangerous objects" like hatchets, saws, machetes, unless it's for a justifiable reason, like you are transporting it to use for it's intended purpose and not to hurt someone.
What are not forbidden and don't need permits are pepper spray and swiss army knives.
Read all about it on the link Snoop provided, even import export rules and weapons that are completely forbidden.
Take a self-defence course. It might provide you with some protection or at least buy you a bit of time to leg-it from a situation and at least you won't be in any dodgy "grey" areas of carrying a weapon around with you.
I'm not sure what the law is here on using self-defence moves but I guess they tolerate it up to a point. If you leave the attacker needing to be fed through a straw for the rest of his life I guess you would be the one ending up in trouble, though.
The police officers recommended it themselves?
Goshiki, yes, eve pepper spray is illegal in the UK.I personally don't think there is anything wrong with carrying a defensive item. I would only ever use it in self-defence situations where I could not retreat. I would never mis-use it.
Also, I notice that you have a lot less crime in Switzerland, so hopefully I'd never encounter a situation where I had to defend myself.
I got a pepper spray (dog repellent) that the officer saw at the border , read and put back in place so i assume it is legal. (it was in my car in plain sight) I walk around with one also.
On another note, I had a knife fight in front of my bar last night, drug deal gone wrong I guess and there was a lot of wielding of the knifes.....scary crap sometimes