//The best means of self-defence against knives or guns is to have a gun//

Any research or anything that shows that guns are better at deterring intruders than, say, eight foot fences with pointy bits on top? Or is this one we're supposed to take on faith?

//Setting cunning traps for burglars is against the law.//

Not necessarily. You're entirely within your rights to detain somebody whilst effecting a citizen's arrest and it won't count as deprivation of liberty. There are ways of building traps that just detain people rather than injuring them.

Of course, if you're a fan of the Home Alone school of home security and actually looking to rough them up a bit, then you will have to be a bit more intelligent about it than Kevin McCallister when designing your cunning traps. If the police can detect premeditation then the trap doesn't count as cunning. The idea is to make it look like an accident.

Or you could just get a decent fence and a good security door, which is simple and effective. Maybe throw in a big black dog with orange eyebrows to deter cats as well as people (cats aren't a threat, I just dislike them). It's a bit like running away from a tiger: you don't need to be able to outrun a tiger, you just need to not be the slowest person being chased. It's much the same with home security: your house doesn't need to be Fort Knox, it just needs to pose more of challenge to potential intruders than your neighbour's does. Which house would you knock over if you were a burglar? The one with the big fence that you're going to have to scale and the scary dog on the other side of it, or the one without those things?

Toni,

The house with the security is the one to knock over, security spells money.
Big black dogs are a pushover, a bit of meat with some quick acting dope in it and the dog is history and the average security door is usually junk because it is ill fitted or just junk of itself.
Besides which the cunning thief doesn't go through doors or windows.

Why do police have pistols?

Careful there Toni, your 8ft. high fence just gives the intruders privacy once they have picked a unobserved spot or moment to cross it.

I do find it amusing to see that you & insurance companies appear to believe that a key locked glass window offers some security.

A Smith & Wesson .38 is the most useful close quarters security, with a 30 30 Winchester for more general defence. Either or both leave that dog for dead. If the dog is mean enough to be much use, it will be mean enough for someone to want it removed from your possession.

Some of you will appreciate a funny little story about where these gun hating clowns have got us today.

My son was instructing Navy officer cadets, during their 3 months introductory training. Some of these were mature intake, like doctors, nursers dentists & such, others just kids.

Apart from teaching them which end was the front & other such difficult concepts, they had to learn a little about guns, & have a couple of trips to the rifle range.

He was telling us of the first such group of 20 he had, including about 10 female nurses. After 20 rounds, only 3 of had hit the large 100 yard targets. He found they were jerking the trigger, so redid the trigger action training.

Back on the mound, they were still no better. It took close investigation for him to find that in fear of the loud bang, most were closing their eyes just before firing. No matter what he tried that day, about half could not keep their eyes open when firing.

Assuming the was talking about the girls, I asked him how the blokes had gone. The answer, this was the blokes, the girls were even worse.

Compare this to 60 years ago when as a school cadet officer, [CUO], I used to train a platoon of 30, 14 & 15 year olds on the range 4 times a year. All were fair shots, with most rounds hitting the target at 200 yards.

God help us if we need todays snowflakes to fight for the country.

Hassy that is such a funny story, I split my sides laughing. Snowflakes, not a problem when we have our very own Sargent Major in you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y2WIOa7CEI

Ahh, I love sound of paranoia. It has a certain musical quality, don't you think? Perhaps that's just me. Either way, I think we can all agree that it is hugely entertaining.

//Why do police have pistols?//

They don't.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_uniforms_and_equipment_in_the_United_Kingdom