Home defence and security

Here's a little more from Sir John Stevens on self defence in the home:

"The bottom line is that everyone from the public to the politicians are behind it, apart from one or two lawyers."

Sir John also backed people's right to arm themselves at home in order to defend themselves.

"People do have baseball bats to defend themselves, after all they are in their homes and it is not an offensive weapon. I draw the line at firearms but people are entitled to be in possession of such things in their own homes.

Also, don't miss this Mark Steyn article in the Telegraph in which he suggests that the increased security used generally in our homes simply helps to encourage determined burglars to go for the easy option ie the front door when someone is there to answer it.

An Englishman's home is not his castle, but his dungeon and ever more so - window bars, window locks, dead bolts, laser security, and no doubt biometric recognition garage doors, once the Blunkett national ID card goes into circulation.

All this high-tech protection, urged on the householder by Pc Plod, may make your home more secure, but it makes you less so. From the burglar's point of view, the more advanced and impregnable the alarm systems become, the more it makes sense just to knock on the door and stab whoever answers.

An interesting point of view and one that I think has some merit.

The Prime Ministers Official Spokesman says that we are all a little confused. We have been granted by the government all the rights that we need and just need a little clarification on the whole burglar thing. Part of that clarification is to tell us that we should not 'actively retaliate' against a home intruder.

No advice was offered as to why 'active retaliation' was a bad thing.

Sir John Stevens has given his support to the Tories for their plan on the issue of home defence. Some critics of the plan suggest:

...it could create a "have a go" culture among some householders.

No news yet on what the negative aspects of have a go culture might be.

Never forget that the primary reason for the unreasonable farce we find ourselves in is the desire, which is irresistible for some, to protect the burglar from the home owner.

Posted by John at December 7, 2004 12:14 PM | TrackBack