I'm really tempted to post the entire article here, but I won't. It's pretty interesting, though, and somewhat different from the norm.

Column[/b]

Mark Steyn rocks! I never miss his column but this is an especially good one. Just a couple of excerpts if I may be allowed:


I'm able to do this because - and this is where the gung-ho bit comes in - I live in a state with very high rates of gun ownership. In other words, if you're some teen punk and you want to steal my $70 television set, they're likely to be picking bits of your skull out of my wainscoting. But the beauty of this system is that I'm highly unlikely ever to have to blow your head off. The fact that most homeowners are believed to be armed reduces crime, in my neighbourhood, to statistically insignificant levels. Hence, my laconic approach to home security.[/b]

and...


But I do want to have the right to make the judgment call. You can call 999, get the answering machine rerouting you to the 24-Hour Action Hotline three counties away, leave a message, and wait for the Community Liaison Officer to get back next week if he's returned from his emotional trauma leave by then.

But that's the point: you're there, the police aren't. And, even in jurisdictions whose constabularies aren't quite so monumentally useless as Britain's, a citizen in his own home should have the right to make his own assessment of the danger without being second-guessed by fellows who aren't on the scene.

And, once you give the citizen that right, he hardly ever has to exercise it. Take Miss Smith's situation: she's at home, but the burglar still comes a-knocking. Thanks to burglar alarms, British criminals have figured out that it's easier to wait till you come home, ring the door bell, and punch you in the kisser.

In my part of the world, that's virtually unknown. In America as a whole, 12.7 per cent of burglaries are of "occupied homes"; in Britain, it's 59 per cent. Installing a laser system may make your property more secure, but it makes you less so. As for Ann Widung's "culture of fear", it's not American therapists but English ones who've made a lucrative speciality out of treating children traumatised by such burglaries.

As I wrote in September, to expect the state to protect you is to be a bystander in your own fate. It's interesting that, during the recent security scares, the terrorists seem to have been targeting BA and Air France. They seem to reckon they've a better chance of pulling something on a non-US airline. I hope that's not true, and that when the next shoebomber bends down to light his sock, he'll find himself sitting next to some gung-ho Brit rather than the "peace and solidarity" type.

You can have a nanny state if you prefer. But not for long.[/b]

Good article. This was the poll Steyn refers to; some of the soundbites are amusing:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/reports/misc/law_result_20040101.shtml

I am among the bastards who voted for Law 5. Although, had the "beheading of of people caught towing caravans during daylight hours" been shortlisted, I might have been tempted elsewhere.

David

It's a shame the right of self defense is even debatable.

It's only debatable to those who agree it's debatable.

You're allowed to use self defence in this country. It's just that you can only use "reasonable force", which is something undefined by the law... the jury evaluates it.

id est, nevermind guns; dispense anything more than a chinese burn or a kick in the shins and you could be in trouble.

Anyhow, until better legislation comes along, I'll be doing what I think is reasonable and facing the consequences.

David

Great article Gryphon. I'm with this guy all the way.
I used to have a friend who would sneak into my house without knocking;(no, not a girlfriend)I finally told him to never do it again unless he wanted to end up dead. I will shoot and then ask questions later. To me, if you enter someone else's private domain, expect to get your head blown off...plain and simple. I'm not going to call nicely down the stairs, "Oh, mister intruder, are you here to just rob me or are you a potential threat to my life?" And I ain't gonna aim for the non-lethal areas...except one area south of the belt line!

I always get an adrenaline rush when I watch these shows that highlight victims who fought back(captured on video). One of my favorites is where a man tries to rob a convenience store and then gets basically beaten to a pulp by a couple of women who break bottles over his head.
Another one I liked was the guy who tried to rob the gas station and was very surprised when the 90 year old attendant pulled out a shotgun!