No, I don't want that for my community Csteele.

I wouldn't mind betting that there are far more accidental deaths and murders by guns in the US than there ever are by guns being used to 'protect' yourself and your children.

You say that the offender's cunning, strength and his wrecking bar were not weapons? With what could this mother respond? She was limited by getting caught upstairs and with children. Maybe that was part of his plan. Offenders do watch targets first to get to know their movements. The father was out, for example.

For what possible reason would this 'burglar' be searching for this young woman and her children? Why would he be so determined as to enter the roof crawl space where she and the children had fled?

What you are saying is that she should have found out first by laying her life and her children's on the line first. That and hoping the police would be able to intervene first. Also hoping that if he spared her life it would not become a hostage situation.

Obviously the criminal didn't believe the cops would get there first, or that he would be apprehended. Or else he wouldn't have continued with his actions. He would have fled as soon as he realised someone was in the house.

The offender was right of course, the police would never have stopped him in time. In fact police were not quick enough to stop what he might have done and his escape. It was only his cowardly concern about his injuries and some incapacity that allowed the offender to be caught.

If you checked the violent crime statistics in America that caused injury or death by gun shots, I bet the women and children victims were shot by their father, boyfriend , sibling or husband far more often than by a stranger.

One only has to think of the last mass school shooting in the US to remember that the gunman used the guns that were easily available in his own house. He shot dead his own mother first, with her own gun.

That is reason enough for me that guns have no place in a suburban home, and I am glad that the Australian Government has taken a strong stand on gun control.

It's ironic that the intruder didn't die because for the rest of their life this family will be worrying if the intruder is after revenge & a lot more cautious next time. In situations of intrusion or assault the offender has no rights whatsoever. Anyone defending him should be put away into an asylum, preferably one in the US, don't send them here. It's unfenced.

Suseonline, "I bet the women and children victims were shot by their father, boyfriend , sibling or husband far more often than by a stranger"

Maybe you are unpacking some of your own emotional baggage there.

But even if it were so, you are stretching credulity to suggest that such violence would not have happened without a firearm.

Errors of causation have been explained to you numerous times in numerous threads. However it obviously suits your world view and Green Left politics to continue with them.

Suseonline, "last mass school shooting in the US to remember that the gunman used the guns that were easily available in his own house"

That is a lie. In fact the regulations worked to prevent him from laying his hands on a gun when he sought one and he resorted to theft, breaking into secure storage by destroying a hefty padlock.

Determined offenders don't mind breaking more laws to commit an offence.

When the media was making personal celebrities out of bombers eg letter bombers, there were copycats. Same too with bushfire arson in Australia. Big spreads, lots of TV 'shock, horror' footage and bingo, another offender finds a box of Redheads. The media can report facts responsibly, without sensationalising, making it into a TV series and adding to the problem. Likewise opportunist politicians could at least wait until the grieving is over before trying to capitalise on the sad incidents.

But what exactly has a multiple homicide at a school got to do with a mother defending herself against a determined 'burglar' (more likely a home invader with other ill intent as well as theft)?

You're doing a lot of betting there Suse.

Perhaps you should try getting some statistics, rather than guess.