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Comment by paduc | Hacker News Reader

It's just a whole different philosophy. If the bad guys don't feel threatened by the people they rob, they will be less likely to use force against them. If we hear a burglar in our home, we europeans tend to hide and call the police, not confront them. It's the police's role to capture the burglars and justice's role to prosecute them. The law protects everyone.

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This will get me down voted to eternity, but this entire thought is so wrong. Let me tell you if you act like a victim, you will be treated like one. My house is rigged up to look a lot tougher to break into than my neighbors houses along with an alarm (accompanied by stickers on all windows). If someone does break in I will go down the stairs. I will not wait for the bad guys to come up and confront me beside my kid and wife. I will make a lot of noise and switch on the lights, but I will not wait for anyone to come up to us. And yes, I have a very nice bat lying around upstairs.

In most cases you are right when you say that you will be treated like a victim if you act like one, but I wouldn't tie having no weapons to acting like a victim in such a general way.

It just depends on where you live and how people behave in certain situations.

If I lived in the US, I'd probably have a gun at home, because the probability that it will protect my life outweights the chance that someone might get shot accidentally. (for example if you have children at home)

But in many western european countries you have almost no upside by possessing a gun (because you just wont experience a life threatening situation with a burglar), just the downside of your children possibly somehow getting their hands on the gun, no matter how safe you stored it.

Guns are expensive (well, the illegal ones, not the legal, they're not expensive). Most burglars won't use guns. To expensive, way to noisy in a country that is very crowded and is very afraid of guns (I imagine over 100 people phoning the police for the sound of a gunshot) and too high a fine ($ 10.000) and too high a sentence should they get arrested breaking and entering.

> This will get me down voted to eternity, but this entire thought is so wrong.

A different sort of wrong than 'technically wrong' perhaps.

http://sandiegofreepress.org/2013/01/some-factual-gun-statis...

There was a very high profile case a while back where a farmer shot some intruders and went to jail. It made national news because it was so extraordinary for an intruder to be shot.

Of course it triggers the debate of how much force should you be able to use and we go round again.

Or if they know they run the risk of getting badly beaten for breaking into someone's house, they won't do it?

And I'd guess that Europeans doesn't include Brits in your statement.

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