How NOT to safeguard your house

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skeeter1

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"LANSING -- A man tired of burglars nearly blew off his hand when bomb-like devices he set around his house exploded in his presence instead, authorities said.

Victor Iacobescu, 50, ran to a neighbor's house Thursday with a bloody towel wrapped around his right hand.

"Apparently, he was trying to set booby traps to get the next guy who tried to break in," fire Lt. Maggie Murphy said.

Iacobescu had been the victim of several break-ins, she said.

The neighbor, Patrick Struble, said the explosives were "like a pipe bomb. He accidentally triggered it, and it almost blew his hand off."

Police were investigating with the intent to pursue charges.

"Anything that goes `bang' is illegal," police Lt. Bruce Ferguson said. "I can't think of any (legal) reason why someone would be making a bomb."

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed."
 
"Anything that goes `bang' is illegal," police Lt. Bruce Ferguson said. "I can't think of any (legal) reason why someone would be making a bomb."

Could it be that he was making a bomb because he couldn't own a firearm to defend himself? I'd be tempted to break the law to defend my life too.
 
While I separate myself FAAAR away from such stupidity, I have a tale to tell; I'm a sailor. I've sailed my boat to many exotic locations. Once, at anchorage in a small harbor near the Dominican Republic, we met a couple who frequented the area. They warned us about local pirates boarding you at night. I told them of my pistol, shotgun, and the dogs that sail with us. "Good idea", they said, but added that it's a good idea to, get this; Throw tacks around the deck. They even offered me a box.
I declined, and after a few gin-tonics, we brought the dogs to shore and settled down for the night. The wind picked up after midnight, and anchors don't always hold well in coral, so he started to drag anchor, coming rather close to our boat. Up he came in his BVD's to let out more rode and, you guessed it. "OW! OOO! AHHH!" and other explatives that would not be proper to mention. His wife was trying to start the engine, same deal; "EEE". By now our dogs are barking at them, they're on their way toward the shoreline, and doing what appreared to be a tribal dance ritual. This was before hip-hop music, but every time I see one of those so called "artists" on stage, I remember Jim and Carol, dancin' in the moonlight.
BTW-they were okay. Anchor grabbed, we went over the next morning prepared with our med kit that includes bacitracin and vicodin. He got a little itchy when I asked : "Did you see any pirates?, guess you dance kept 'em away". Man, I hope he has a shotgun now.
 
^^^ ROTFLMFHO!!!!!!!!!!

My "booby traps" usually consist of dog toys, teenagers' tennis shoes, dirty laundry also dropped by said teenager....

Who needs explosives when you have a kid who keeps your house messy for you? :rolleyes::D

Springmom
 
My son has little army men and hundreds of thousands of Legos on the floor at all times. Ever step on the ' mortar ' guy or legos in bare feet?

Imagine that, he was setting up a home defense system...all this time I just thought he was being messy...LOL


great story Tanzer!!
 
springmom

can I quote you on that and send it to my folks? Hahaha...my security system now consists of four half german shepherd/rott 'puppies', 2 mastiffs, a great dane, and my crazy neighbor...
 
This is a textbook law school case. The case everyone studies in law school involves a guy who was "tired of break-ins" in an old, abandoned farmhouse on his property. The guy rigged up a shotgun with a trip wire to shoot through the door when anyone approached the door to the house. Group of kids approach, and one kid gets killed (shotgun blast to the head). Guy is charged and convicted of murder. Guy says, "I didn't intend to kill anybody." Court upholds the conviction, and says that the guy knew or should have known that death would occur from setting the trap.

Moral of the story: Never, I mean NEVER, set up any kind of explosive trap (guns, bombs, etc.). You are NEVER justified in doing so, and if anyone gets killed by the trap, you'll be convicted of murder.
 
Moral of the story: Never, I mean NEVER, set up any kind of explosive trap (guns, bombs, etc.). You are NEVER justified in doing so, and if anyone gets killed by the trap, you'll be convicted of murder.
Click to expand...

But, you can, sit in the shadows with a 12 gauge and blow away the intruder.

Kind of odd (good, but odd)...
 
Some years ago, a friend of mine decided that, he too, was tired of break ins in his apartment. Being a good California non-violent hippy type sufer dude :rolleyes: he decided to frighten 'em off. On his apartment window he rigged a pull string that would ignite a pack of firecrackers to frighten off a would-be thief. (You can see it coming, can't you?) So late one night, weeks later, he's doing the horizontal mamba with his latest honey when they hear *pop**pop**pop**pop**pop**pop**pop**pop**pop**pop* from the livingroom. Of course by the time he ah...disengages and slips on some shorts, both the curtains and sofa are on fire. :D But then, we always did say "he strong like ox, smart like tractor!" :D

A friend near Tahoe, tired of people breaking into his garage by using channel locks to remove the door knobs set a trap. He used one of those water/air pressure fire extinguishers set to discharge into the door opening if the door was opened. To make it easy to ID the perps, he put in water, a half cup of detergent and half a gallon of fish-emulsion fertilizer! Sure enough, two teens tried to break in and got "hosed" good. He woke up hearing them saying "ahhh S---!" and "what is this s---?" Cops picked up a pair of smelly & foamy suspects two blocks away and made them walk back to avoid stinking up the patrol car. :D
 
This is kinda gross, but I heard of a technique used to stop would-be theives from ripping out car stereos. The idea was to mount razor blades at an upward angle like so.../ \ behind it. The theif could get his hand UP and grab hold of the radio, but better not try to take said hand out/down. This may just be an urban myth. Nasty idea though - dont try this at home. Makes me shudder to think about it.
 
DOH, indeed.
My booby trap consists of the deadliest thing ever, next to guns.

A killer cat. It attacks anyone though. except me.
 
But, you can, sit in the shadows with a 12 gauge and blow away the intruder.

Kind of odd (good, but odd)...
Click to expand...
The key is that there is a human being identifying the target and making the determination that deadly force is required.
 
The pipe-bomb is the k3wL'st thing that everyone finds on the internet when looking for 'bombs'. :rolleyes:

Explosives can be safe, and used effectively, if you know where to go to find the proper information.

The legality of doing so, and whether or not it is prudent to do so, is another matter.

Set-guns and boobytraps are usually illegal because they are unable to discriminate between an innocent and a threat, (presumably) unlike the man in the shadows with the shotgun.
 
Moral of the story: Never, I mean NEVER, set up any kind of explosive trap (guns, bombs, etc.). You are NEVER justified in doing so, and if anyone gets killed by the trap, you'll be convicted of murder.
Click to expand...

Words of wisdom. The process of defending yourself involves, in most cases, showing that there was an active and capable threat against you. The Castle Doctrine is a great thing, but it still employs the idea that the intruder was cognitively perceived as a threat. A bomb has no cognitive ability. The only possible positve outcome is that it might get the neighbor's dog who makes a habit of using your yard as a toilet, but then PETA would be after you.
 
This is a textbook law school case. The case everyone studies in law school involves a guy who was "tired of break-ins" in an old, abandoned farmhouse on his property. The guy rigged up a shotgun with a trip wire to shoot through the door when anyone approached the door to the house. Group of kids approach, and one kid gets killed (shotgun blast to the head). Guy is charged and convicted of murder. Guy says, "I didn't intend to kill anybody." Court upholds the conviction, and says that the guy knew or should have known that death would occur from setting the trap.
Click to expand...

Depends on what load of shot he used. Rock salt, say, or birdshot would be one thing.
If he's putting 00 buckshot in the shotgun, well, how can he say he "wasn't intending to kill anyone"?
Ridiculous.
 
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