Damn kids, get off my lawn

On July 26 2012 15:45 Shady Sands wrote:
There are a number of solutions that may provide relief from the nighttime stalking. Please note that this post is purely informative and I do not in any way encourage you to take any of the below actions. I do not live in Sweden so I do not have any idea what the local laws are--highly recommend consulting with a local lawyer before embarking on any of these courses of action. As always with posts of this nature, the actor, not the poster, bears all responsibility for any consequences arising from any techniques bearing either a substantive or superficial resemblance to the ones listed below.

Deterrent/warning/nuisance

• Paint dispenser
  Basically a device that either drops or sprays paint on him, or splats him with a paintball. Good for tagging down the target so you know who is sneaking up on your house at night.
  
• Stink dispenser
  Same philosophy as the paint device, but with a foul/irritating fluid. Best choices include butyric acid (harmless but smells like rancid butter, obtainable from any chemical company or even your high school chemistry lab.) Alternatively, you could also make a homemade stink solution of ammonia and match-heads--just swirl the match-heads around in ammonia, seal the container, wait two days, and you have a solution of ammonium sulfate, which is what goes into commercial and military stink bombs. Spray/drop/splash your assailant if he intrudes.
  
• Light trap
  Some other people have already posted about this in the thread: basically a triggering system that turns on a powerful light, like a commercial floodlamp. Best if combined with the noise trap below:
  
• Noise trap
  Fire up your loudest, most jarring track of music (or annoying noise like an alarm clock) and set it to go off if he gets near.

Painful but (usually) non-lethal

• Caltrops
  
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  Caltrops are an antipersonnel weapon made up of two or more sharp nails or spines arranged in such a manner that one of them always points upward from a stable base (for example, a tetrahedron). They cheap and easy to make--all it requires is two long-ish (10cm) nails to make one. So with a box of 500 nails (should be cheap, less than 20 euros), you can make over 250 caltrops and scatter them about your front porch/the grass in your yard. Best idea is to put in the grass or buy a shaggy rug and hide them in there, as they will not be visible. Also remember to spray paint them black or brown so they don't shine in the moonlight. Depending on the thickness of his shoes, the assailant will get a 1-2cm deep wound to the sole of his foot and lose the use of that foot (since the caltrop will be stuck to his shoe), which is usually enough to give you the decisive edge in any physical encounter.
  
• Nail Heads on Carpet
  Same philosophy as the caltrop, but easier to clean up. Drive nails through the bottom of a rug so that the sharp end sticks up, and superglue or epoxy them in place from the back side. Space them about 5cm apart in a triangular pattern. When you need to dispose of the trap, simply pick up the rug and move it.
  
• Aerosol Flame Trap
  Basically a trap that incorporates a lighter, an aerosol can, and a triggering device. Assailant triggers lighter and aerosol spray, which sends a 1-meter jet of flame in a set direction for approximately 3-10 seconds (depending on how much fuel is in the spray can). The flame will not be hot enough to set him on fire, but will scare him and cause minor burns.
  
• Mace Canister/CS dispenser/Mustard Gas dispenser
  Same philosophy as the stink dispenser, but uses irritating/painful chemical agents this time. Mace is commercially obtainable and usually comes in nice spray bottles that you can easily hook up to an automated triggering system. The other two have the advantage of being much more painful than Mace, but also dangerous to yourself as well. Use with care. Your assailant will likely be incapacitated after an encounter like this, and will require medical attention if the chemical amount is high enough.

Potentially Lethal

• 00 Buckshot Trap
  You do not need a firearm for this trap to work, although it makes it much easier. If you do have a shotgun, simply wire it to go off when someone triggers a pressure plate or tripwire. If you don't, use a thickened metal pipe and an improvised firing pin. Pipe strength is not critical as the "barrel" only has to withstand one shot. The advantage of this is that spread of 00 Buckshot out of a 15-20 cm unchoked barrel is about the size of a fist at 10 meters, which means that you can place this trap well out of sight of an entryway, or it can guard all the windows and doors along an entire wall as opposed to just one point of egress. If you want to tone down the lethality, substitute a lighter load of shot (or beanbag shot) for the device, and/or place at knee/ankle level to disable movement.
  
• Spring-loaded axe/knife/machete
  Basically a device that swings a blade down a predetermined path upon triggering. The ideal path for a thrusting movement is usually upwards through the floorboards or downwards from the ceiling at a slight (20 degree-40 degree) angle. The ideal path for a swinging movement is either at abdomen height or neck height (lethal), or from behind towards the back of the knee/hamstring (disabling).
  
• FFV 013 / VP 88 / MON-50
  These are the Swedish, Finnish, and Russian versions of the American M18 Claymore directional landmine. Since you live in Sweden, these devices should be the versions that are available if you have the right connections in your local community. Triggering systems include tripwires and infrared laser beam triggers (basically one of the beams that goes across the bottom of a garage door.)
  
• Grenade In A Can
  A hand grenade works like this: you pull the firing pin, then throw it, at which a spring-loaded handle held flush to the grenade body is set free when the grenade leaves your hand, arming the fuse and beginning the countdown. So the grenade in a can works by pulling the firing pin but jamming the grenade into a steel can. Then you place the can down on the ground and weight it down with rocks (or glue it to the ground). Then you wrap a thin, clear string (piano wire or nylon fishing lines work the best here) around the grenade and thread the other end around a vertical object to form a tripwire. When the wire is pulled, the grenade will pop out of the can and arm itself, and explode; if you can get the variants with a zero-delay fuse (an instantaneous fuse) then the grenade will explode without warning.
  
  The best grenade to use for this is the Soviet RGD-5, as it is can-sized, cheap, and comes with a zero-delay UZRGM fuse. The grenade itself is usually available in bulk for about $5 (or 4 euros) per unit. It has a guaranteed lethal radius of 3 meters and can inflict fragmentation injuries/shatter glass out to 15 meters, so do not plant one of these close to a window or door. As always, paint the device matte black or brown for low-visibility in nighttime conditions.