There are pros and cons to both.

Extendable pros

An extendable asp is easy to carry.

The thwack as it comes out and locks into place is quite intimidating and might make someone think twice.

It's steel tip inflicts a lot of pain and is good for smashing windows safely.

It's easy to sheath whilst extended leaving your hands free to perform other things like handcuffing .

Extendable cons

An impact on the side can break the friction lock that keeps the baton extended causing it to collapse when you might need a second strike

They are difficult to rack out in a tight space with a lot of people around

You are limited to the type of strikes you deliver due to the fact if you prod someone (hard) you can cause the baton to collapse,

I have seen them break when used on vehicle window screens.

Fixed batons too have pros and cons. The type we use in the UK are called Arnold batons. They are made of ABS plastic about an inch in diameter.

Arnold baton pros

They look intimidating handing down your leg

They don't need to racked so are immediately ready for use

They cause a lot of pain and because of the diameter can actually cause incapacitance in large muscles

They can be used to jab people in the ribs etc at close quarters

I have never seen one break and they obviously can't collapse.

Arnold baton Cons

They are cumbersome to carry particularly getting in and out of vehicle.

They look intimidating (yep I know I put this as a pro but) in a situation where you have ordinary members of the public you don't want to alienate them by looking like a thug!

They are difficult to re-sheath and secure when wearing riot gear especially the gloves, this means if you set off at a run you could drop it,

In the U.K. we only carry Arnold Batons in public order situations.

Yep. Better than knives, honestly.

Knives run into legal risks due to their inherent lethality. They also cut and sever things deeply, potentially severing nerves. No nerves? No feeling. People can potentially be cut bad and keep attacking.

With a baton, prove you cracked them with it. A knife cut looks like a knife cut. A cracked kneecap could have been cracked on a fire hydrant as they were fleeing or whatever. They can be high as all get out, but a broken bine is a broken bone.

All that aside, the *CRACK!* of the baton opening might be enough to end an altercation. It says “oh, he's serious! 😳” in every known language.

That said, they do require some degree of understanding, training, and skill to use properly. It isnt a lightsaber, and you aren't there to just wiggle it at people.

No. To either. It's Not practical, It's Not a spear. It's by definition an improvised weapon at best.

Any time somebody uses the word tactical all I see is Tacticool. It sounds neat, it sounds aggressive but all I get is an image of worthless garbage… Painted black with fancy trim, using bad ergonomics and poor design choices. By the way, How's the bottle opener Tactical zombie survival Machete doing?

So nut up. Then shut up, Because There's Ranting Inbound.

(L) M48 commando “Tactical” spear. (R) Cold steel Boar spear. Guess which one can be desocketed and used as a short sword/large dagger. Hint it isn't the Commando!

A spear is primarily a thrusting weapon. it's made of 2 pieces and it's hardware attachments. The Head & the haft. Both are solid materials designed around the impact from base to tip. They can be extremely short like the Iklwa spear(3ft) of the Zulus.

The awesome thing about a socketed head. They use just about any size for the haft!

A collapsible baton is literally that a hollow stick that actively shrinks when a set of buttons/locks are pressed into itself. That's a big problem for a spear all the force focused on one little lock, it's going to fail either on the first thrust or the third. Often built in pillared construction to resist lateral forces as opposed to tension or compaction. Meaning it's being used in the absolute worst possible way short of as a stilt for propping a tire change.

It's also a fairly short weapon. Most average 18 to 24 inches or 1.5–2 feet in length. That's shorter than your typical machete or an average axe. Well shorter than an actual Short spear could be.

Arrowheads lack the size to be effective on this, not a spear “Spear”. The average arrowhead has 1 maybe 2 inches of cutting surface on either side provided it's not a Bodkin/pile point which is just a hunk of pointy metal no edges.

To weld with any claim to success you'd need to know both compositions of steel in the Baton and the arrowhead. If ones wrong you melt the tip off the baton or else fuses so poorly it breaks off with a bad thrust. But there's still an issue. Once you weld that hardened steel arrowhead you've ruined its temper potentially making it brittle or softening it to the point it hits even a book it bends out of shape getting stuck.

If all that seemingly works you have one significant issue. If it breaks or the edge becomes useless replacing the entire assembly is pretty much guaranteed because; 1. It's welded to the base without a sacrificial element. Which means every new weld needs clean steel, a new basin added and to be finished properly or suffer from weather, fatigue or corrosion.

Please draw your own conclusions on what my opinion is to the viability of a “Tactical” collapsing spear… Man that sounds so bad put that way.

Question: Are collapsible batons legal?

It depends upon the state and municipality.

Most states allow them; however many major cities do not. They are also illegal to carry on federal properties, such as government buildings and military installations. And of course, you cannot carry them on federally monitored transportation like aircraft (in the cabins) or passenger trains.

OPINION: Frankly, I would suggest anticipating that carrying one will be problematic, if not illegal, in most locations and so carrying one really should be something that you consider carefully as you can be arrested or detained if you are found with one. I used to carry an ASP Agent miniature collapsible baton for a few years. However since I rarely made the time to practice with it, I stopped and swapped it for a high lumen flashlight which has almost no legal restrictions.

When I was an officer in the 70’s and 80’s there was no pepper spray or tasers. Baton training emphasized using it as a lever against joints (elbows and wrists mainly), but we were taught striking techniques, but never around the head or neck. Then came the PR24. A baton based on a martial arts weapon:

In addition to leverage, this was also taught as a striking weapon against knees and elbows. It wouldn’t usually do any real damage, but it hurt like hell and was part of what was called “Pain Compliance”; techniques that don’t cause any damage beyond bruising, but cause enough pain to get an unruly suspect to cooperate. Batons never worked all that well and, thankfully, there are other methods these days.

I personally never found a better advantage to using the PR-23 baton to a regular straight wood baton. When I started in law enforcement in 1971 the straight baton was standard issue for every law enforcement group across the board, Police, Sheriffs, Highway Patrol & Marshals. We were trained in the use of the baton and most Officers/ Deputies were very competent with them. Some where in the early 1980’s along came the PR-24 baton, the one with a handle on the side. A number of newer Officers/Deputies wanted to use them so a great deal of time was spent to see the advantage of this new tool.
In 1982 I was sent to advanced Officers Training for 40 hours of training. One portion of this training was the use of the PR-24 baton. Unfortunately during the first part of the the class the instructed lost me and most of the entire class when while explaining the advantages of this new tool he showed us how use the baton when going into bars for bar checks, defensive uses when attacked by people with clubs, chairs and other weapon of blunt force. He moved right into showing us how to pinch someone with the baton by holding the handle in your palm with the baton und your forearm and then you punched using the top portion of the baton strike the culprit with out injuring your hand. This is where he lost me because he moved into a defensive position where he was in crowd control assignment and he was showing us how to keep the people back by swinging the baton from side to side holding the handle in one hand while the longer straight end of the baton would swing back and forth. He then said if you need to swing the baton harder to keep the people back you just swing it faster and as he showed us what he wanted to do his PR-24 baton struck is revolvers wooden grips and they broke, while the baton swung back in the other direction the Pr-24 baton struck is Hand held radio that was in a pouch on Sam Brown belt and broke the radio’s case making it unusable. The entire class was shocked at how quickly he had broken his radio and the grips on his revolver we lost any interest in his class. He was so embarrassed he walked out of the class room. Plus I don’t think he ever used a PR-24 baton again.

batons in Canada are legal.

(Edit: except of course Springloaded baton which are illegal or prohibited weapons, friction lock batons are non-prohibited)

It only becomes illegal when it's INTENT is to be used as a weapon to harm a person or for other criminal purposes. A baton carried to rob/hurt/defend yourself is a weapon. But the same baton used as tool to break car windows for a car thief. That same weapon could be for a charge of “possession of a break and enter tool”

So for Canada its mostly the INTENT of the item or tool that you carry that determines if it is illegal. And is up to police to determine and or prove the illegal intent.

But carrying a *concealed* baton could carry the charge of “possession of a concealed weapon”

Which as was told to me personally by a municipal ex-police officer, a baton is perfectly legal to carry openly your belt. (Given there is no intent for a illegal use.)

One thing to note is the intent of carrying a tool such as a baton. One reason people in Canada carry a baton is defense from wild dogs and animals.

I have personally carried a baton for a such a legal reason. And no I am not a anti-animal person. But I have been attacked by dog before and it is not a pleasent experience. (I was hurt the dog was not) I would never hurt animals unnecessarily.

Most officers who carry a baton will have a collapsible model that expands to 24 or 26 inches.

The older-style non-collapsible wood or aluminum batons are 24 or 26 inches long.

Yes, Here are some advantages:Advantages of Collapsible Batons

• With a collapsible baton, a law enforcement officer will be able to sit in the car even when wearing the baton, the shaft on the baton makes it easier to do so with its collapsed state, unlike the noncollapsible batons.
• Carrying a collapsible baton is stable and easy, you use ring-type belt attachments while the nonexpendable batons use holders, carry a baton in a holder is not stable and can easily fall when engaging a rioter or running.
• Collapsible batons are concealable, this makes the apprehension of a criminal less aggressive and terrifying
• Collapsible batons are versatile and can be used for a wide range of uses and environments
• Collapsible batons are mostly made of steel with usually a slightly wider tip for the concentration of blows and strikes making them more effective than polycarbonate batons. The strikes are more effective
• Read More:

A friend from college swore by this one:

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When I was taking my conducting class (I majored in music education), I used one very much like the one immediately below. It was very light, exquisitely balanced, and very easy to handle:

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In high school, I saw a lot of marching band field majors using batons like these:

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I currently use an Asp expanding baton for holding doors open and scratching my back under my armor:

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and have used the Monadnock PR 24 baton:

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I'm sure I've missed some, but those are all good batons.

The question I answered was: “Why do police officers not carry expandable batons?”

tl;dr: Optics.

I always carried mine, because sometimes there’s something on your passenger seat floorboards you can’t reach, or a button that’s a bit too far away to reach from inside your car. Perfect job for the baton.

The baton is optional for many police departments, including mine. One reason is that the circumstances where you might encounter a situation where the baton is more appropriate than other tools are so rare that there’s almost no point.

Another reason is that the baton is a weapon that requires you to be within contact distance. This means that whoever is attacking you is also close enough to reach you, your belt, and your baton.

The final reason is that the baton is a weapon that has very bad optics and a narrow chance of success. You have to hit your target areas with a lot of force, possibly more than once, to get your attacker to stop. In the process you have to keep enough distance to prevent from being grappled, and avoid hitting areas you’re not supposed to be targeting. You still might not be successful, and you might have to transition to another tool inside contact distance. That’s very dangerous, and if you’re unlucky you could end up being grappled and have someone on top of you trying to take your gun. If you survive the encounter you will certainly be asked why you thought it was a good idea to use the baton instead of another tool.

Why do that when you can hit them with the Taser and put them in a 5 second time-out? Or spray them with OC spray and take away their ability to see you? Even if those tools don’t completely stop the person from attacking you, you have still hopefully gained a tactical advantage and enough distance to use your radio.

First of all retractable batons are illegal in many states unless you are law enforcement. So carrying one and using it on someone is going to get you a low grade felony for use of a weapon against someone sometimes. The other thing is in most of the police training and when you see them used by them they are limited to striking to smooth muscle, fatty areas like the butt, thighs, biceps, and back (away from the spine). Striking to areas like the wrist, knee, shin, face, and skull are considered excessive force and will get a department and officer sued by a good lawyer. They are however strong enough to strike to those areas and deliver some real damage, including breaking bones which is why they are not used by the police in that way.

Well, if you are talking about the categories of batons. They have been evolved into

1. Expandable batons
2. Automatic expandable batons
3. Stun baton or baton stun gun
4. Tactical flashlight baton with stun gun

You can find these batons here.

Batons have been used since since ages by various cultures, civilizations and are proven to be one of the most important self defense tool.

I mean who could deny the importance of wooden or steel stick in ancient survival game. I would prefer the tactical flashlight baton with stun gun.

A multi facet self defense tool featuring a tactical flashlight to distort visuals of an attacker. Eyes combine to about 80% of human sensory input. The power of a stun gun and the swing of a baton.

The best? I don't know. That's down to personal preference.

I can tell you my favourite. My favourite would have to be Mollard. I like their P series batons, which have the sausage shaped handle rather than the bulb shaped handle. Very light, well-balanced, articulate and pretty widely available. They're not horribly expensive, either. You can buy pretty solid cases for them as (as batons are delicate). If you order directly from them, you can even get your name engraved on it and the case as well, I think.

I've found with other batons, especially some of the cheapies from the local music store that they can feel sluggish and unbalanced which makes it feel like you're fighting the baton, which is pretty distracting.

To expand on Philippe Richer’s answer a bit:

It’s legal to purchase and own a collapsible baton or any other weapon that is not considered restricted or prohibited.

It is not legal to use or intend to use a weapon to harm another person. Simply carrying a collapsible baton around can be grounds for arrest. Since it was designed solely as a weapon, carrying it can imply that you intend to use it to cause harm. Keeping mounted on a wall at home? You’re probably fine.

The law here is intentionally fuzzy to give the police and crown attorney room to make a judgement call. If a drug dealer or gang member owns a baton there’s a good chance they’ll get charged as it’s reasonable to believe they’d use it as a weapon. If a martial arts instructor owns one, they’re not likely to be charged unless there is reason to suspect ill intent.

When I started I carried a collapsible side handel batton.

I liked it because it could be used for defensive purposes, blocking and forearm protection, in addition to being a striking weapon. Plus, it did not flop around and bang into your leg as you walked due to it being used in conjunction with a friction and strap held holster, as apposed to just a ring. However our department decided to standardized training and forced the few of us that had this to go to the expandable straight stick. Plus when I pulled it and expanded it, the “chinnnk" sound was an attention getter, like when you rack a round into a shotgun.

Most of the stun batons out there are very similar. Some of the brands are even from the same Chinese manufacturer.

One stun baton that I found that stands out from the rest is the Stun Master Bad Ass. Not only does it have stun and LED flashlight, its made of metal and can be used as a powerful baton to strike an attacker.

It depends.

Many cities in the United States have outlawed their use or possession by civilians or those not in security or law enforcement roles. This is a rather questionable as there are many other objects which can be transformed into impromptu bludgeons which are just as effective and that are as dangerous (if not more so) than expensive collapsible batons.

If you are uncertain about their legality, I would advise contacting your local police department or researching your city or town's local municipal code online. In Indiana where I live as an example, they are illegal for civilian use and possession in Indianapolis and South Bend, but largely unregulated throughout the remainder of the state.

Honestly, they kinda suck. In order to be “retractable”, all but the last, smallest section are hollow, and the walls are thinner than the pipe you'll find at a hardware store. Oh, they'll still hurt like a motherfucker, but they don't take much abuse before one or more of the segments are so bent from the impacts that they no longer telescope properly.

Even worse are the “collapsing canes/staffs” used as part of stage magic. These are essentially thin springs that coil up inside themselves and open when a restraining pin is released. They cannot take ANY impact, and exist purely for the visual of a wand, cane, or staff appearing like magic. Yet for some reason, certain dishonest websites sell them as “self defense tools” and some idiots online INSIST they can be used that way.

The extendable baton was created by Mr. Wilbur Donderson of London who was a districrt captain of the street night patrol. He noticed many old people had trouble holding their canes (batons) while not in use. In his home workshop he took a cane apart and found he could actually cut one cane and even a baton into four seperate sections which could collapse into one piece easily held along side of the leg wthout interfering with regualar duties of patrolmen or cane users. When in need, due to his own ingnuity with springs, he designed one which could extend upon removal from the pocket. Since then it has been in use throughout the world, even for those needing assistance while walking.