Foreigner
Bluelighter
The laws for self-defense are similar in most commonwealth countries, at least for the UK and Canada (where I am).
Self-defense must be equal to the offense, and not greater. If someone attacks you with their fists, you can't use a knife. If they attack you with a knife, you can't use a gun. This is the case for pre-meditated self-defense, which means, you saw them coming a mile away and had time to think about your reaction. Non-pre-meditated self-defense is when you are caught completely by surprise and you react almost without thinking. In that case, if you grabbed a bat, or a lamp, or a book, or a frying pan and bashed their brains in because they were in your home in the middle of the night, it could be argued that you had no idea what kind of weapon they had and your felt your life was in danger.
Home invasion cases of self-defense tend to go a lot better than just, say, being on the street... because the perp is knowingly putting themselves in grave danger to enter your home and there's no way they just "accidentally" ended up there.
So I would say, don't overthink it. Just have a legal means of self-defense handy, but not a gun because commonwealth countries hate guns, including stun guns. Nobody is going to know just how "hard they fought" when they attacked you. They will have less credibility than you for simply invading your home, assuming they survive.
If you set traps or use weird defenses like insulin syringes, it's going to look like you thought realllly hard about how to kill somebody, instead of just... you grabbed a cast iron frying pan and bashed their head in because "I just reacted because I was so shocked, oh no!"
I envy the US for Castle Law. I think anyone who breaks into your home has forfeited their life, personally, especially in the middle of the night. I'd shoot to kill, if I could, but I live in an impotent country that defends the rights of low lives.
Self-defense must be equal to the offense, and not greater. If someone attacks you with their fists, you can't use a knife. If they attack you with a knife, you can't use a gun. This is the case for pre-meditated self-defense, which means, you saw them coming a mile away and had time to think about your reaction. Non-pre-meditated self-defense is when you are caught completely by surprise and you react almost without thinking. In that case, if you grabbed a bat, or a lamp, or a book, or a frying pan and bashed their brains in because they were in your home in the middle of the night, it could be argued that you had no idea what kind of weapon they had and your felt your life was in danger.
Home invasion cases of self-defense tend to go a lot better than just, say, being on the street... because the perp is knowingly putting themselves in grave danger to enter your home and there's no way they just "accidentally" ended up there.
So I would say, don't overthink it. Just have a legal means of self-defense handy, but not a gun because commonwealth countries hate guns, including stun guns. Nobody is going to know just how "hard they fought" when they attacked you. They will have less credibility than you for simply invading your home, assuming they survive.
If you set traps or use weird defenses like insulin syringes, it's going to look like you thought realllly hard about how to kill somebody, instead of just... you grabbed a cast iron frying pan and bashed their head in because "I just reacted because I was so shocked, oh no!"
I envy the US for Castle Law. I think anyone who breaks into your home has forfeited their life, personally, especially in the middle of the night. I'd shoot to kill, if I could, but I live in an impotent country that defends the rights of low lives.
yeah swiping that infront of someone could scare them off and could be lethal if gashed across the wrong body part 
