Hmm I guess attack's are part of free speech in Britian

[ArkAoss]

Well, I just found out that my british pen pal was attacked 2 months ago, (it explains the lapse in communication)
and when another of her American pen pals sent her some pepper spray in the mail for protection, after the fact now she has to go to court not only about the attack, but also for smuggling illegal substances.

The friend, I guess, only meant to help. but that's a wierd law, In america, you can go to any Kmart, stop & shop, or convienience store and get some. It's not like it's a dangerous weapon, sure it can be dangerous in the wrong hands. In high school once, a kid on my bus, had once been sitting in a Micky D's and was messing with some one's pepper spray canister, and he set it off, and got a few of the people close to him, and the cloud got into the eyes of most of the employee's; they had to close the place down while it aired out, but you could have done the same with a really bad fart.

 

[Linflas]

I recall our last trip to Canada they were very curious about pepper spray at the 1000 Islands crossing. It used to be they would ask me in 5 different ways if I was bringing any alcohol, guns, or cigarettes to Canada but this time it was pepper spray. Must have been some undercover plot to infiltrate US pepper spray into Commonwealth countries.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

No offense (no doubt the person who sent the pepper spray was well-intentioned), but I think it is probably just as well there are fairly tight regulations on shipping pepper spray. Obviously it is a caustic chemical in a high-pressure container, and in a worst-case-scenario it could burst at altitude, potentially filling a plane with, well, pepper spray, and causing a dangerous situation.

Also, the substance itself may be (I have no idea) per se illegal in Britain, thus making it a crime to knowingly receive it in the mail. I would think your friend would have a pretty good defense by simply saying she had not in any way requested the spray, and that it was sent unsolicited and without her prior approval.

 

[DesignDawg]

It's BIG TIME illegal to take pepper spray or mace into Canada.... But it's not illegal AT ALL to take BEAR SPRAY. And bear spray is what? A big-mama FAT-ass can of high-powered, high-velocity PEPPER SPRAY. Ironic. A blast from a can of bear spray would be like emptying the contents of of several cans of mace on you.

Ricky
DesignDawg

 

[ArkAoss]

heh, i dunno, but yeah, she's gettin in some sort of trouble....

 

[ArkAoss]

now come on, that ain't cool..

 

[Shantanu]

As crazy as this sounds, people don't have a right to self defense in the UK, and many other countries. If someone assaults you, and you fight back, you could get into some serious trouble. There was a case in the rural UK a while ago, in which a bunch of thugs kept raiding an old man's house every week. So the old man armed himself with a shotgun, and shot one of the thugs when he came inside his house one night. In the U.S., we wouldn't think anything of this. But in the UK, the old man ended up getting life in prison. Sad.