Booby Traps Might Not Be The Best Idea
Remember the movie First Blood? That was our introduction to one of Sylvester Stallone’s signature characters, John Rambo. In addition to convincing an entire generation of budding survivalists that we all needed to buy giant survival knives, it was probably a result of seeing that movie that I became fascinated with traps.
While being pursued in the wilderness, Rambo found time to fashion all sorts of booby traps that injured and disabled several deputies who were on his tail. I found an ad for the now defunct Paladin Press in one or another martial arts magazine and sent away for a few books on the subject. (See kids, this was way before the Internet was a thing and if you wanted something that wasn’t sold in stores in your area you had to order it through the mail. Weird, hey?)
As I recall, one of the books was the US Army field manual on booby traps, which was almost useless to me as I didn’t have access to actual ordnance of any type. Other books, though, I found very interesting.
I learned all about things like punji pits filled with feces-smeared spikes, smaller ankle traps that could snap a leg, homemade explosives using black powder that could be ignited by a lantern battery and so much more. That last one led to an interesting experiment in which a buddy of mine and I discovered that a golf ball size perfume bottle packed with black powder had sufficient explosive force to essentially vaporize a wooden mailbox. We also discovered just how fast we could run the quarter mile from that mailbox to my buddy’s basement to make it look like we’d been watching MTV all evening.
Do Not Try This At Home
Surfing through various and sundry survivalist-oriented message boards and other social media outlets, I’ve found I’m not alone in my fascination with booby traps and the like. I see all sorts of posts detailing ways to inflict injury or death upon any who dare cross the perimeter after the inevitable collapse of society. From improvised explosive devices to shotguns rigged to fire when a door opens, it is obvious some folks have spent endless hours thinking up ingenious methods for defending what’s theirs, especially if they can’t be there in person to handle it.
Here’s the thing, though. While it all sounds awesome on paper, the reality is that booby traps might not be such a great idea.
Why?
First of all, they are highly illegal. While that might not be much of a consideration after a societal collapse, it for damn sure matters right now. Remember, agreement with a law has nothing to do with being held liable for violating it.
In Katko v. Briney, a property owner (Briney) inherited an old farmhouse that had been vacant for several years. It was burglarized a number of times and he got tired of it. Briney rigged a shotgun in one of the bedrooms so it would fire when the bedroom door was opened. He intentionally aimed the shotgun downward so it would hit an intruder’s legs rather than aiming it at chest or head level. Long story short, guy named Katko breaks in, opens the bedroom door, and suddenly finds himself on the floor with several more holes in his body than he had when he woke up that morning.
The intruder sued the property owner and won, to the tune of $20,000 in actual damages and $10,000 in punitive damages. That $30,000 total was awarded back in 1971. Adjusted to today, that’s about $186,000. And, of course, that’s on top of the legal fees incurred by Briney defending himself in the court case.
In another example, the owner of a tavern rigged a window in such a way that when a burglar broke in, he was lit up like a Christmas tree by an electric current. The burglar’s family sued and won $75,000 in 2003 (adjusted, that’s about $106,000 today). Again, that’s not including attorney fees and such.
Imagine how many preps you could purchase with $100K! And instead, the money goes to the family of some lowlife who was looking for a quick score.
Enter The Courts
What it boils down to is that the courts have determined property is less valuable than a person’s life. In the first example, had the property owner been in the home and believed his life to be in danger, the case may have had a different outcome. But it was demonstrably evident that the owner was only protecting his property, not the lives of himself or others.
Again, we’re not debating whether such laws should exist. The fact is that such laws are on the books and you, just like everyone else, are subject to them.
Indiscriminate
The second, and actually far more important, reason booby traps aren’t so awesome in real life is because they are indiscriminate. The trap cannot and will not distinguish between you, your spouse, a burglar, a nuclear radiated mutant crawling in from the wastelands, your dog, or one of your grandchildren. Simply put, whatever or whoever trips the trigger gets hurt. While it is certainly possible to memorize the location of each trap and avoid them in your day-to-day life, there is still the possibility of error, especially when under stress. Zig when you should have zagged and suddenly, you’re the one with extra holes.
Now, that said, all is not lost for those who are eager to put their DIY skills to good use. Do some research on booby trap triggers and see how you could modify them to activate some sort of alert signal or alarm rather than an explosive device.
Once you start researching this stuff, you’ll find all sorts of neat tricks you might be able to modify for your own situation. Just be careful and use your head for more than just a hat rack.
Oh, and by the way? Rambo’s story had a far different end in David Morrell’s novel, First Blood.
About the author
Jim Cobb is a well known freelance author on survival and other topics.
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Yea, I was thinking non lethal, non injuring.
Too bad there’s no skunk bomb type.
I def would have something set up to alert for area’s I can’t easily see but most likely trip wires.
I like the ones that fire .22 blanks.
Booby traps are useful in the right circumstances. They exist from mere warning devices (trip flares, etc), to some pretty lethal devices.
You could likely get away with trip flares (assuming you didn’t set a forest on fire) or simple whistle or bang devices like the military uses (mainly in training). As long as there is a functional rule of law, anything lethal or injurious would not be a good idea.
I had a friend (who was a Green Beret) who booby trapped his house because he had to go on a deployment and knew his dope head brother would break-in and steal everything. Sure enough, the brother broke in and one of the booby traps screwed him up pretty good. The cops had to get a military EOD unit out to disarm everything.
My friend was prosecuted by civilian courts, lost his Soldier of the Year award, lost a stripe, and his green beanie too (he used military stuff in his booby traps). They sent him to a regular infantry unit, which was additional punishment since he was parachute qualified and now had to be a “leg.”