Hi

Recently I am having problems with some rather annoying and intrusive people that moved into the building where I live.

Apparently they have some problems with me and they started being right-down hostile to me, like ringing my door bell at 4:00am and threatening me.
These people showed "intrusive" behaviour as they repeatedly asked me to enter my house in a very aggresive manner.

Since as a Greek citizen I cannot qualify to purchase a tazer just in case things get really bad at some point I was thinking of buying a shotgun, which I can buy after filling an application with the police.

I am not actually thinking of using the shotgun to hurt anyone but since I have a serious concern about my safety at the moment I was wondering if anyone has heard or knows about any non-lethal munition that I can use with a shotgun, like I dunno, stun darts or something, just in case I get directly assaulted at some point in the future which starts to seem more and more likely...

Many thanks

 

If you were to fire at someone and not totally immobilize them the butt of the shotgun could easily cave your head in.

A better idea would be to try to solve the problem between you or move.
Ignoring them and disabling your doorbell at night is another possibility.
Or, how about calling the police?

Is there something you are doing to get their attention?

 

Ok here is the situation

These people moved recently into the building and they are not Greek. They do speak some Greek but I cannot understand what they are saying.

The problem as it appears is that there is water dripping from the edge of my balcony and they dont want that Allthough all the balconies are dripping water from their edges when it rains.

First time they came around and insisted on entering my house to inspect my balcony and I politely told them that there is nothing I can do in order to stop the water from dripping due to gravitational pull that makes the water to go down.

Second time around they came again, shouting at me and trying to make me accept them in my house or they said that they would sue me. I made it as clear as possible that I do not want them in my house and closed the door. Afterwards I called the police and the police told them to stop annoying me.

Last night as I was watering the flowers on my balcony they came over again and started ringing my door bell at 4:00am.

There are few scenarios that I can think of.

1. Is that they have some kind of psychiatric problem that gets "activated" when they see water dripping.
2. Is that they are trying to lure me into a lawsuit in order to extract money from me.

I contacted the building administration and apparently they also do not understand the problem they are having with me which seems to be completely irrational.

I have a few options at the moment.
1. To call for a police car to come over and they will either make them some suggestions to stop annoying me again, or arrest them in order for me to make a lawsuit for harrassment.
2. To go to the police station and file a complaint, after that they will call them over and they have to provide a reply to my complaint.


The issue here is that since they do not seem decent to me and because of their rather annoying and intrusive behaviour I started to worry about my general safety so I would like to have some immidiate defence against them in the case of an attack before the police arrives, thus the question about the non-lethal munition for the shotgun.

Secondly I do not have any kind of effective communication with these people as they do not speak clearly and calmly but rather shout all the time. The possibility of an effective communication is also reduced when they ring my door bell at 4:00am in the morning.

Ignoring them is what I was doing for the last few days but they keep harrasing me.

Deactivating my door bell might make them to start physically attacking my door in order to get my attention.

Moving is also not an option because I cannot afford another accomodation arrangment and I actually like where I live at the moment.

So you think that I should go for live-ammo? I dont really want to hurt anyone and I am not very skilled with firearms. Are there not any effective non-lethal munition for shotguns???

 

Would pepper spray make you feel safe?

 

Any use of a real gun or even a toy gun that looks real can be considered as an assault with a deadly weapon. Plus, if they are armed, you may trigger a deadly response where you lose because they were using real weapons.

What you need to do is defuse the situation. Since communications is difficult, seek a compassionate third party. Calling the police, although necessary at times will only increase the hostility. If you have a religious leader, minister, priest, or other, talk to them and see if they can help you mediate the problem.

Look for ways to eliminate the source of the problem and ask their advise. If it is rain water, then perhaps channeling it to a drain location that prevents it from being a problem below. If it is the water you are applying to the plants, eliminate the over spray or contain it.

I realize countries have gone to war over water, but neighbors should be able to find a solution and one that doesn't involve them entering your apartment.

A quick story to illustrate. I stopped by to check on the progress of a new home I was having built only to find a half dozen neighborhood kids using it as a jungle gym. Rather than approach them with a 2x4 in hand I simply introduced myself as their new neighbor and talked to them about the problems with them playing in the rafters. In the end, I asked them to watch over the house to be sure no one took anything and if they need any wood scraps for their fort (all kids have a fort), just ask and I would find some. For the rest of the construction, they had free access to the house and they stood guard. nothing ever came up missing and we were friends for many years.

Send your neighbors a gift with an apology about getting off on the wrong foot and tell them you will find a way to resolve the water problem. Much better than getting a gun.

If you still feel threatened, as mark suggested, pepper spray, an alarm, better locks, or a air horn, but only use them inside your home and never threaten anyone with them.

Bud

 

I didnt know about pepper spray, its actually legal here to buy it too, thanks.

I would prefer that then actually buying a gun, I tried getting a tazer once but they told me that they are illegal here.

These are not kids we are talking about, they are adults. I am 29 years old and they are around 40 or 50 or something but they are very very annoying.
They did shout at me for no reason, they kept trying to convince me to get in my house and they also threatened me with a lawsuit for a problem that I am not responsible for nor I understand what it is so there is nothing that I did to them to apologize for. The building administrator did go to check their problem and what it is, is that there is water dripping over the edge of the balcony as water does when not supported by anything.

I did ask the other neighbours and they also dont understand what their problem is. Even if there is some kind of humidity problem it also not my fault as this is a matter of the building administration so its there were they should go if they actually want to solve their problem, not me (especially not at 4:00am) and not a lawyer.

I think I will be going peppers buying later just in case the are crazy or something.

Thanks

 

I will stay out of the "use" discussion. To answer Volnix question; Yes, there is ammunition considered to be less than lethal. All my kill or cause serious injury and if used at short range the chance of seriously injuring or killing someone is very great.

Rubber buckshot shells are the least expensive less than lethal cartridge with a 12ga shell typically containing 15 rubber balls. The pellets travel about 790 feet per second (240 meters/second) which can be deadly at close range and the rubber balls lack accuracy at longer ranges.

Fin stabilized rubber bullets are considered lethal to targets less than 12feet (4m) away and are designed to be used on targets 10-45 yards (9-41m) away. In the USA they are about 5 US Dollars (USD) per shell.

Hydro-Kinetic Impact Bag which are like liquid filled bean bags. It is designed to be used a close ranges less than 7 yards (6m). In the USA they cost about $6 USD per shot.

There are also tear gas (CS) cartridges which are not designed to hit the target with a projectile. Rather a cloud of CS is projected from the muzzle of the gun. Good in a police/military situation but probably not good around home unless you have a habit of wearing a gas mask.

 

Have you talked to the landlord? Filed a complaint with the local housing association. You might have cause for civil action against the building owner if he fails to provide a safe environment.

In the realm of outside the box in some juridstrictions law officers are allowed to work off duity as security guards. Might be expensive but could be effective.

 

Just my 2¢ here but a gun is something only to be considered in a life or death situation where you are willing to pull the trigger to kill someone - a 'non-lethal' ammunition would not be a good choice for use by anyone other than law enforcement

The landlord and the police need to be informed and involved in this situation

 

Me and my mom are the landlords of the property and the police has allready been informed the second time these people came around shouting.
I called the building administrator and told her of the situation and also asked her to make totally clear to them that I dont want them in my house or ringing my doorbell and asked her to tell me what they told her.
I also went and bought some CS spray which is legal to have here unless you are doing something illegal whilst having it.
If they dont stop bothering me I will probably have to go to the police and file a complaint.
Many thanks again

 

If you're the landlord, you should look into what it would take to evict these people - at least that's what I'd do

 

I talked with the building administrator and apparently they say quite a lot of lies. They said that they saw water comming out from my front door? and when she told them that if they come here again I am gonna call the police they said that "they are not afraid" and some stuff like that. These people are indeed becoming a pest. I asked the building administrator which they also bother ringing her doorbell in the middle of the night that maybe the rest of the buildings occupants should be informed of potentially dangerous individuals living here. I also thought of collecting some signatures to get them out of here but the building administrator thought of this being "extreme".
Anyway these people are here for about 3 years now and they caused a bit too much trouble allready so at the moment I will not do anything, I will try to make sure that there is nothing bad that I am responsible for to them and if they persist in pesting me then I might do something else.
It makes me sad actually because I lived here most of my childhood and it was a really nice place to be, but another landlord that owns some appartments in the building started renting them to "just anyone" with results having quite alot of bad people hanging around but what does she care she took her money and she doesnt live here anyway...