"Ottawa attack: MPs fashioned spears while Harper whisked into closet"

[james_davis_nicoll]

Some positioned themselves on risers that flanked doors, ready to attack an assailant.
[...]
“There were 15 flags up at caucus and all but two were taken down,” one MP recalled.

“These guys were up there holding these spears ready to impale anyone who came in,” the source said.

Comments

[sean o'hara (from livejournal.com)]

Don't indoor flagpoles typically have heavy bases to keep them upright? Seems to me it'd be more effective to brain the guy with that end than to hope the finial was both sharp and rigid enough to stab someone.

[bunsen-h.livejournal.com]

That depends on how strong one is, and how able to handle such a mass. For a staff/mace like that, I would probably be able to use it much more effectively as a spear. Which is not to say that that would be very effectively.

[chaotic-nipple.livejournal.com]

They also unscrew from the extremely heavy bases for easy storage, and having had to set up those damn things, I think it would be awkward as hell to try and hit anyone with the base. Jousting with the spear itself, though, is easy, and they're surprisingly sturdy. Um, so I heard anyway.