From: clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca (Chris Lewis)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Safety in my home (was: Killing Burglars)
Date: 9 Oct 92 06:03:29 GMT
Organization: Elegant Communications Inc., Ottawa, Canada

In article <67k8RB3w164w@upchrch.UUCP> joel@upchrch.UUCP (Joel Upchurch  ) writes:
>byron@homer.hsc.ucalgary.ca (Byron Draudson) writes:

>> Well, Alberta is NOT a paradise of safety.  About a week ago, a
>> 40 year old doctor/husband/father of four was fatally stabbed as
>> he struggled with a 21 year old burglar at 4 am in his mid-upper
>> class home near the university.  Makes you _really_ wonder just
>> how safe you are in your own home...

>From what I've read countries with strict gun control like England
>and Canada have a much higher percentage of burglaries of occupied

[FYI: I'm not precisely sure that you would consider we had "strict"
control.  Long weapons (rifles and shotguns), aside from prohibited
weapons, are fairly readily obtainable - legally.  You have to take a
safety course and pass a test.  Little background
checking is done (if any), and you get a permit to own (as many as you
want).  Handguns, on the other hand, are very tightly controlled.
There are various categories of gun permit.  The standard one (gun club)
even requires you to specify travel routes and safe storage.  The
"unrestricted carry" is incredibly rare - there's apparently only a
couple of these in all of Toronto - pop ~3.5 million.  And perhaps only
a few dozen "defence" handguns - where special circumstances must
be proven.  Not counting illegal ones of course.]

>dwellings than the U.S. In the U.S. something like 10% of burglaries
>occur when someone is home, while in Canada and the U.K. it is over
>40%. That is not to say that their overall burglary rates aren't
>lower.

Really?  I wouldn't have thought it was anywhere near that high.

On the other hand, the percentage of burglars carrying firearms
is much lower in Canada, and almost zero in the UK.

In a place like the US, where firearms (especially handguns) are 
more available, the burglars will more tend to carry to protect
themselves.  And when surprised by the occupants, they'll be more
likely to shoot before getting their head blown off.

Ie: if you were to break into a house here, the odds are extremely
low that you'd end up having to face a gun-toting home owner if the
home was occupied.  In some states and some neighborhoods, I'd expect
it up in the 25% range or higher.

While the incidence of harm during (residential) burglaries ain't
zero up here, it's pretty darn close.  So close that you get to hear
about them all in the news.  And I only remember one in Ottawa (population
of area ~ 750,000) in over a year - and that one sounded gang related
[Six armed teenagers "invaded" a house with several resident families.
When the smoke cleared, several of the teenagers and several of the
residents were injured.  Some seriously.  Knives and guns.  Right
proper melee.]

Besides, the relative crime-rates are so different, it's ludicrous
to compare statistics such as this.  More people are murdered in
New York City over the course of a couple of weeks than are murdered
in all of the UK over a whole year.  (And that's with NYC having
some of the toughest gun control legislation in the US.)

The risk of getting hurt here during a burglary is extremely low.
Much lower than that of a "home defence firearm" being involved
in an accident that kills a member of the family.  Except in special
circumstances.

While I'm not an anti-gun nut, and I wouldn't pass up a chance
to try firing (someone else's) handgun at a range, owning a handgun
here for home defence is a *big* mistake.  *Any* firearm for
"home defence" is a mistake.  *Here*.  It may not be in some places
in the US, but I'm not going to live in such places to find out.

The Brits do have a good idea - the Bobbies don't carry guns.
And damn few of the crooks do either.  Tho, this has been changing...
-- 
Chris Lewis; clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca; Phone: Canada 613 832-0541
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