Homemade weapons in Ceuta, Spain: from a legal baton to a cardboard vest

Homemade weapons for Ceuta: from the legal baton to the cardboard vest

Does a sock with a stone in it do any good when the person in front of you claims the enemy arrives with weapons of war? That is the question hanging over an urban prepping discussion focused on Ceuta and on how to arm yourself without ending up in jail. The starting point is a catalogue of ideas: a slingshot with an arrow tip, sand in your pocket for the eyes, a weighted sock, mosquito spray, a knife tied to a broom handle and even a Molotov cocktail. The most eye-catching pieces are the anti-stab vest made of filing-cabinet cardboard and the bulletproof vest made of two thick books and two tiles glued together with duct tape.

What homemade weapons the manual proposes and what the law says

The initial catalogue mixes the cheap with the illegal without telling them apart. There is a slingshot with an arrow tip, sand in the pocket, a sock with a fist-sized stone, a cord with a heavy nut, mosquito spray and a flammable spray next to a lighter turned into a makeshift flamethrower. Also a knife attached to a thick stick for tight spaces.

The most sensible answer in the whole thread goes in another direction. One participant points out that what matters is that at a police check they can't pin anything on you and suggests the baton: legal, no medical certificate needed, with combat techniques similar to the spear. Against that, another notes that a pepper spray bought at a gun shop will be confiscated by the police if they find it on you. In practice, the line between the discreet and the confiscatable is the only one that matters.

The tile bulletproof vest: myth or reality?

The most-cited proposals are the anti-stab vest made of filing-cabinet cardboard, tested by stabbing a knife into it to see if it goes through, and the bulletproof vest made of two thick books and two tiles glued together with duct tape. The response comes as mockery: which title to choose, whether The Bible, The Power of Now or Stephen King's Riding the Bullet, and which tile brand, Porcelanosa or Ecoceramic. Someone sums up the result: walking around tiled like a toilet.

Some claim that a particular tape, in a double layer, won't be pierced by a knife, not even close. The problem is that none of these recipes comes with ballistic testing. They are backyard workshop ideas, not technical specifications.

From slingshot to 3D printer: the arms escalation

The conversation escalates fast. If the slingshot and catapult aren't enough, guns made with a 3D printer come up: Liberator, Songbird, Deer Gun and FGC-9 v2. The catapult appears as an alternative because stones are always at hand, though another replies that it is harder to use than a rubber band with a flattened nail.

The qualitative leap comes from whoever claims the enemy is one shipping container full of AK-74s away from annihilating us all. In other words: if that's the scenario, the sock with a stone is pointless. The discussion swings between a prehistoric guerrilla manual and additive weapons manufacturing, without settling where reality actually stands.

Neighbourhood militias, banners and drones: the part that isn't a weapon

The most uncomfortable block isn't about weapons. It proposes passive resistance: banners in Arabic around the city, loudspeakers on vans, consumer drones filming from the sky and messaging groups so neighbours turn up en masse at any problem, always with faces covered and dark clothing. The advice not to film with your phone comes up immediately: whoever uploads videos identifies their own people.

One comment points out that all of this may be a incivil offence and anticipates the tears afterwards. Another points to destroying infrastructure — vehicles belonging to organisations, tents, the CETI (Ceuta's migrant reception centre), supplies — as leverage to force a reaction. The conversation drifts towards September 20 and a supposed new wave, with the dilemma of finding accommodation elsewhere or staying put.

---

In the end, the most useful inventory to come out of all this is not the weapons one: it's the limits. A baton is legal, a spray gets taken away, a tile vest has never been tested. And the 3D printer, for now, remains a promise.