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HAVE YOUR SAY

SHOULD WE BE ABLE TO USE FORCE TO PROTECT OURSELVES AT HOME?

Being burgled is a horrifying ordeal

Tuesday July 17,2007

Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(17)

ALMOST a third of householders have weapons at hand to protect themselves against intruders.

They admit to having a golf club, baseball bat or at least a heavy torch next to the bed.

And more than half of the people who secretly keep weapons of this sort are willing to use them in self-defence if they are confronted by a burglar.

What do YOU think? Should Britons be allowed to use force to protect themselves and their property?

THE MORE RESTRICTED THE LAWS, THE HIGHER THE CRIME RATES!

22.07.07, 5:59pm

FreeinNHUSA.
I appreciate your comments from your research and experience of living in the States. I think you 'hit the nail on the head' when you said; "The more restrictive the laws, the higher the crime rates..."
We, here in Britain, with are politically correct government and their 'Big Brother ideology' unfortunately, are falling right into the trap.
The 'right for civilians to bear arms' was long ago made illegal in this Country on the understanding, that the government and the police, provided law and order and protection to an individual.
With the authorities increasing PC attitude, especially ensuring the new Human Rights laws are applied to criminals even murderers. This 'understanding' is now invariably breaking down, and normal law abiding citizens are becoming more vulnerable to violence and crime, with less punishment for the criminals. This creates a snowball affect which causes the problems to become bigger each day!
Our, not too intelligent politicians, will not divert from their suicidal directions and I fear, we as a civilised Country, will be destroyed!

• Posted by: steveg • Report Comment

BURGLARY

22.07.07, 11:20am

We should be allowed to have a firearm to protect ourselves with no fear of being arrested

• Posted by: syd • Report Comment

POLICE CANT PROTECT US ANYMORE

19.07.07, 10:12am

Violent crime is escalating we must protect our families.
It is better to be judger by 12 than carried by six.

• Posted by: PaulH • Report Comment

PLEASE DO THE REASEARCH.

19.07.07, 3:25am

For about six years now, I have spent countless hours researching everything that recognized “experts” from a dozen countries has said and done about crime, law, weaponry, military, psychology etc…etc… pertaining to police protection/self-defense. This included countless writings and speeches pro and con about armed/unarmed self-defense.
My wife and I are just average people with average jobs in an average apartment in an average city. However, over these six years my wife and I have spent around three thousand dollars on a broad spectrum of training/instruction including crime avoidance techniques like awareness levels, recognizing warning signs of impending attack by predatory criminals, verbal judo, empty-handed defense, various weapons use like pepper spray and baton to advanced tactical firearm deployment. We have even attended seminars to understand the complexities of the psychological requirements and costs of criminal violence to justifiable lethal force.
We go to the range at our club and practice what we were taught sometimes once a month some times every two or three months and oh yes its fun!
Our instructors and fellow trainees range from basic safety to high-ranking police/ officials, from degreed professionals to combat experienced military specialists. My wife being a former police officer/paramedic can attest (and others) that our training has far exceeded what the typical “cop on the street” gets.
Why tell you all this? So that you take what I am about to write with more validity than mere uninformed opinion or even worse, meaningless political bias.

I have read so many well intentioned carefully thought out statements on how more social programs, more police and more government involvement would affect crime. Well you are right, it made it worse.
First, you made owning handguns illegal, then semi-auto rifles and shotguns. Then you criminalized stun guns, carrying knives, pepper spray and anything else that you can EFFECTIVELY defend yourself with. As if the UK‘s “Subjects” are inferior minded children, in an easily controlled environment, just take away the scissors and every one in class will play nice, how insulting.
You can not possibly believe that you can prevent persons moving about, coming in contact with others and transferring something at all in a society, much less with the law which is designed to punish behavior, it can NOT act as a physical barrier. If someone is willing to commit heinous criminal acts like kidnapping, rape, brutal assault and murder why would they obey weapons laws? Do you think Jack the ripper cared about the legality of his knife?
Wave a magic wand and eliminate every gun in the world that will work oh that’s right, the dark ages, medieval times, right.

Leave weapons to the “Professionals”.
Really now, do you need a barber’s license to style yours or your child’s hair?
Do you need a Masters degree in the culinary arts to cook a holiday meal?
Do you need a PhD in horticulture to have a garden or mow your own lawn?
Are you so irresponsible you cannot be trusted with a can of Cayenne pepper spray to protect your own life? You do realize it is the exact same stuff on your spice rack right?

Think about that next time you eat Mexican. In the United States, there are about one hundred million gun owners and as you may know, we are 50 states that balance power between their state governments and the federal government. So you have some states like Washington D.C., California, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Louisiana with Moderate to strict gun and weapon control like the UK, Australia, the Netherlands, China, Germany, France, Mexico, Canada and South Africa. Of course, it is Just coincidence that these states and countries have crime rates correlating to these types of laws. The more restrictive the laws, the higher the crime rates. Don’t believe me? What’s The Swiss crime rate. You know the country with Full auto machine guns in the majority of homes with people age 21 to 45, right. To my understanding, the UK has this “class of responsible elites” form of government. It has been ten plus years since your crime rate went up so high that one out of every fifty to sixty people a year are victims of violent crimes. When are your “elites” going to act responsible? When are people going to realize that your life and the lives of your precious loved ones are YOUR responsibility?

• Posted by: FreeinNHUSA • Report Comment

YES WE SHOULD USE FORCE

18.07.07, 2:48pm

I WOULD LIKE TO DO THE SAME THING TO THE POLITICIONS. THEY AR THIEVING OUT OF OUR SAVINGS IF WE HAVE ANY. WITHOUT GOING INTO YOUR HOUSE THE ARE GETTING INCOME TAX. VAT. RATES. PENSIONS FOR FREE. I WOULD LIKE TO PUT THEM IN JAIL FOR WAISTING OUR MONEY. REGARDS HAL

• Posted by: chilvers12 • Report Comment

USE OF FORCE?

18.07.07, 9:05am

The reason this countries peoples gave up their right to bear arms, was the promise from government that it would oversee our safety and security with a police force to capture and a courts system to punish wrong doers.

The Police cannot cope, to many silly targets, the courts hands are being tied by sentencing guidelines, the prisons are full of protesters about council tax, and offences against the state, with very few crimminals.

If the law cannot protect my family and my property, then I see nothing wrong with doing the job myself, is it not time we turned the tables on the scum and let them know we will use force. After all one only has to convince a jury that you were in fear of your life, as an excuse for braining some half life scum! Hide the bat and tell everyone they fell down the stairs!

• Posted by: lfb_uk • Report Comment