Recent statistics indicate that a person is attacked in his own home by a violent burglar once every 30 minutes and that householders come face to face with a burglar in 20 per cent of the burglaries.
In other cases, people find that their valuables are stolen from their upstairs bedrooms while they may be watching TV in their downstairs living rooms.
This begs the question. Should we be allowed to carry guns or keep weapons under our pillows to protect ourselves and our family? Or, conversley, if we are all allowed to carry arms, would this not tantamount to an escalation of crimes?
In this day and age, we find ourselves as sitting ducks who are vulnerable to harm not only from burglars but, after the attacks in Paris and Brussels, we feel that we are targets for terrorists in public places or even while walking in the streets.
What could be the answer? We do not want to condone gun laws in Britain which may be on all fours to those in America. But then we could not turn our homes into fortresses by placing metal bars in all windows and installing burglar alarms.
Today’s world is not the same as before. We are constantly living in fear of being attacked by terrorists. We need more police with appropriate training who can protect the general public not only form burglars in our own homes but also from terrorists in the streets of London.
Dinesh Sheth
Newbury Park, Ilford
