Surely aluminium is the way to go?

Metal bats are long lasting, but ash bats can last a long time, too, especially if you can avoid getting jammed (hitting something with the thin part of the bat just above where your hands go.) I have a child-size ash bat that's just starting to crack after being used by three generations of my family. The parent is probably referring to maple bats which are used by about half of major league baseball players. According to conventional wisdom, maple is harder and tends to shatter more easily.

Or you could try to track down a Tidal Wave softball bat. The Tidal Wave was a metal bat with a cap in the handle so you could fill it partially with water. The momentum and non-compressibility of the water made those bats crazy-powerful. (And illegal in any semi-organized game.)

Until you miss the looter and hit a door-frame, wall, rack of goods, etc.

After that, as your aluminum bat is likely rolling around on the ground, it will seem like a bad idea.

Are you sure? I thought the nice clean knockout was a TV myth, and that any blow to the head strong enough to knock someone out is just as likely to kill them or give them serious brain damage.

Basically, don't hit someone on the head with any baseball bat unless you're willing to kill them.

IANAD, but I believe there are many factors that go into it. The exact nature of the hit and the elasticity of whatever is doing the hitting are likely rather important (I cannot imagine there is a difference here between a wooden bat and a metal bat though). I've seen numerous people get knocked out in boxing matches, but never seen one get killed (though it does happen). The presence of medical personnel can only help of course.

I am working from the assumption that aluminum bats would hit a person in much the same manner as they would hit a baseball. Aluminum bats are banned from major league baseball because the spring effect of the metal causes balls to go faster and farther. I imagine the same spring effect would cause more damage to a person hit with an aluminum bat.

But yes, I agree that whether the person is hit with a wooden or aluminum bat there is a chance of them dying.

The deformation of the aluminum bat leaves it in contact with the ball longer, and the spring action transfers more energy. A human head will deform more easily than a baseball; blunt impact injuries are a function of momentum over time, so a bat that deforms on impact would do less damage. Any baseball bat can be used to kill by hitting people in the head though.

So this also greatly decreases the risk that this person will hit back and possibly kill you. During self-defense my primary concern is my own safety - not the safety of my enemy.

Looter in action does not deserve to die?

Why not?

If looter was caught and is on trial - then few years in prison would be enough. But being killed while looting when police is overwhelmed - that's only fair.

I find your comment quite disturbing. I can get behind leaving a looter (slightly) bloody and bruised, I suppose, but the nonchalance with which you proclaim these other humans "deserve to die", and state that it's "only fair" is ... well, disturbing. That's the best word. It's disturbing.

The whole damned thing is disturbing.

If a looter sees that someone has a metal baseball bat and doesn't decided to walk away, then they are responsible for what happens to themselves. Anyone with two braincells to rub together knows that if you go up against somebody with a giant metal club, you might die. Let's be honest here, these are not sniper rifles, in order for someone to be killed by someone wielding a bat defensively they have to opt-in.

What I find more disturbing than anything else here is the prospect of a violent individual too stupid to properly analyze such a situation.

I agree. I would add that any kind of rioting opts you in to the possibility of death and dismemberment. Be it by bats, rubber bullets, trampling underneath fellow rioters. Responsibility for a wide range of consequences should lie with the rioter.

You make a good argument. If the looter still comes after you after noticing your bat then you should be really scared. If he manages to get the bat away from you he will probably use it to beat you to a pulp.

In my experience of these London kids a lot of them are smoking heroin during these types of violent events, so I would be unlikely to trust their rationality.

A shortgun would be a better choice than aluminum bat in that case.

In order to kill someone with a baseball bat, you must aim for their heads. It's possible to incapacitate someone with a baseball bat without aiming to kill them.

You also are assuming that all of these confrontations are done face-to-face, and that both parties have plenty of time to think about what they're doing first. It's already pretty clear few of these looters are analyzing anything.

If the looter is alone and there is police squad nearby - there is no need to even beat the looter - catch him and send to prison.

Unfortunately looting mob during mass riots puts store owners into totally different situation. They basically have only two options: run vs fight.

I'm not sure if I personally would choose to fight in that situation, but if business owner chooses fight option, I would support him even if he kills looters during that fight. In part because that would make my neighborhood safer.

I would have imagined that a baseball bat isn't good in a one vs group situation. As you hit one person the others grab you and wrestle the bat off you. Consequently the bat would probably be turned on you. As one parent commenter further noted: once you get riot mentality the mob/riot is entirely unpredictable. I'd imagine you would be in a perilous situation.

Considering the example: If you were a shop owner in your shop vs a mob, I'd suggest that if you had to fight tere's a good probability that you were fighting for your life anyway. You would most likely be trying to permanently disable any threat. Perhaps a blow to the knee? I don't know how anyone would react.

The thing you need to consider is this: in the UK you aren't encouraged to buy equipment designed to hurt people (for example there's legislation on knives (length) and for guns you need licenses which are very hard to get). Also the law tends to be unfavaourable if you simply kill an intruder. You really have to be using due force. Now consider you're home alone and a mob arrives at your door/flat. What do you do to protect yourself? What equipment (that you can easily justify was used in self defence or with appropriate force) should you use that might just persuade them that it's not worth the effort?

Perhaps getting the aluminium one to put them off?

I did not advocate _not_ fighting. I advocated not _killing_.

Creating novelty accounts is a practice best left at the door here. This isn't reddit.

How do you plan to defend the looters? Just on the Internet or actually going into action and trying to reason with store owners?

The force and momentum of a solid wood bat will trump a hollow light aluminum bat any day.

The only thing you get with aluminum is a greater velocity.

Actually another factor that you have to take into account is that aluminum compresses more than wood, causing a spring effect that considerably amplifies the force. This is one reason why major league baseball does not allow metal bats. Aluminum bats drive balls harder and faster than wooden bats. I am working from the assumption that this same effect would happen if someone was hit with an aluminum bat.

Force, momentum, velocity. They all seem somewhat related. Maybe mass too?

  force = 1/2 mv^2
  momentum ~= mv

Velocity matters.