An improvised weapon is an object that was not designed to be used as a weapon but can be put to that use. They are generally used for self-defence or if the person is otherwise unarmed. In some cases, improvised weapons are commonly used by attackers in street fights, muggings, murders, gang warfare, during riots, or even during insurgencies, usually when conventional weapons such as firearms are unavailable or inappropriate.
Improvised weapons are common everyday objects that can be used in a variety of defensive applications. The objects are not physically altered in any way in an effort to make them more functional as weapons. They are generally used in their normal state.
Other than items designed as weapons, any object that can be used to cause bodily harm can be considered an improvised weapon. Examples of items that have been used as improvised weapons include:
Sports equipment such as baseball bats, golf clubs, cricket bats, hockey sticks, dumbbells, and cue sticks.
Objects made of glass, such as beer bottles
Vehicles, including personal automobiles, rental trucks, light aircraft, such as a Piper PA-28-236 Dakota and airliners, such as the Boeing 767
Tools such as scissors, ice axes, hacksaws, pliers, crowbars, screwdrivers, sledgehammers, tire irons, shovels, pipe wrenches, fire extinguishers, hammers and entrenching tools.
Construction materials, such as 2×4s, pipes and bricks
Natural materials, such as rocks
Garden tools, such as axes, sickles, mattocks, machetes, pitchforks and pickaxes
Kitchen utensils, such as kitchen knives, meat mallets, ice picks and meat cleavers.
Livestock herding equipment, such as lassos and whips
Maritime equipment, such as grappling hooks, fishing nets, spearguns and boat oars,
Recreational toys, such as slingshots
Furniture, such as chairs
Musical instruments, such as didgeridoos and acoustic guitars
Firecrackers and fireworks
Throughout history, common tools were used so often as weapons in self-defense that many of them have evolved specifically into weapons or were adapted with the secondary purpose of being used in self-defense, usually by adding modifications to its design.