Husband wants me to have an air gun for defence

[assess]

Hello MN. Unfortunately. I live in a street in London that is frequently targeted by burglars, particularly during the Xmas period when they can tell if people are away. In the last few weeks, there have been 2 burglaries on the street (daytime ones while people were out). But what worries me more, is several videos (captured by security cameras) of burglars coming up to neighbours front doors in the early hours. It’s not just this road, but also round the corner.

I am very freaked out at the actual sight of the burglars. More so than I was following the two occasions we were actually burgled (because both of these break-ins were in the day). My husband has set up very good security since then, but still I don’t sleep if he’s away on business. Last time, following our actual burglary, he got his driver to sit outside when he has to go away for a few nights, but this is not sustainable going forwards. Now we have an alarm system that shines mega bright lights in their eyes and also releases smoke on them if they get in, but I’m still highly anxious because one of the burglars on the CCTV had something that looked like a machete and I don’t think they even care about security. Possibly they are high on drugs, I don’t know? The police say they don’t have the resources to patrol the area. Now my husband has told me he has ordered an air gun - specifically for self-defence. Does anyone have such a thing and would you / have you used it if so?

Have you considered installing a moat and drawbridge?

One of the major issues of today is that with social media, you hear of everything whereas before you only heard stories you personally know. This has driven fear across communities and a heightened sense of danger. It’s a bit like child abduction stories - the rate is pretty steady over decades but we hear of “attempted abductions”.

Facebook in particular and NextDoor as well are the worst for this.

One example from my street WhatsApp last week:
Person 1: “there are two men walking up and down starring at houses”
Lots of people: “that’s terrible/call the police etc.”
Person 2: “John up the road is selling a high end motorcycle so has people coming around to see it this week”.

We’d never have heard about these men or John’s motorbike had it not been for social media.. It’s awful to be burgled but most do not happen when there are people at home. They get more time for that if caught.

You can buy dogs that have already been trained for protection purposes.
www.a1k9.co.uk/

What worked for my neighbours and me when I lived in Fulham was having an (apparently) well known jewellery thief living in our street. We lived a burglary free life until the day he was carted off by several police and never seen again. The burglaries started the next day and apparently his presence had been enough to keep them at bay.

So simple - find yourself a well known jewellery thief and move him in next door.

The gun or any weapon is a really bad idea.

Do not do this it will up the stakes immediately.
Move house.
Don't get a dog if you're out all day,they are a big commitment not an tool solely for defence.
Don't stay where you are unhappy,feel unsafe and can't relax op its not worth it.💐

I’d just move

@VodselForDinner

Must admit, my first thought was to wonder if the husband had recently increased the premium on the OPs life insurance policy!

Ah bless though -

Freeze sonny, and put your hands on your head. Don't even think about moving unless you want some seriously nasty chafing

There is no point in having a weapon for personal security unless you are highly skilled in using it. Besides, as others have pointed out, it massively escalates the situation and would probably end up being used against you.

I think you should just move. I've been the victim of repeated break ins and you never really get over it and feel safe in your home again. Granted, I'm not loaded so I wasn't able to fortify my castle in the way that you have, but I did put new security measures in place. Nothing was ever enough.

Your husband is a moron. You will get yourself in to a world of trouble wit an air gun.

Just move to Richmond or somewhere.

An air gun lol. Is this for real? Marginally better than a spud gun

Since 2005, 25 people have been killed in Britain by air guns.

I can’t find any figures for spud guns.

Just driving a normal wage car no burglar is bothered so isn't this problem wealth differences. I've heard about this ten years ago from managers that live in areas of London where people have £80k+ cars never in my roads as mostly £4-20k cars. I'm not justifing what these people are doing it very much heavy organised crime and like any good business person just going to the most profit in one go. Even my gran was broken into(zone5 nice area) without showing off the trappings of wealth but more professional burgers, in quickly and silently took stuff like jewellery and out. It's really horrible having people like that in your home. This is a whole different game with more risk as there is more reward. Everyday in London the wealth gap becomes more divided and people with be more cornered into crime at all levels so will take more risk. I imagine these people are making way more money than they could honestly and know the police are more over stretched daily so prosecution is low in comparison to reward. Don't think just throwing hasher sentencing is the way forward but creating less opportunity or need to do this at the same time. Maybe we need to think about wealth storage as a whole it's well known that wealthy people no matter their culture invest in jewellery etc on a level my late gran and myself couldn't afford. Most expensive thing is this house is dad's stamp collection and worth more selling slowly in bits. He has made us promise when he dies not to take the first offer and sell quickly. Hence why just petty or professional burglary and no machetes it's not worth the risk.

Jesus. I live on a council estate so rough that at least 3 taxi firms won't even pick me up unless I give a false address. The irony is that I've never lived anywhere safer, because the Police are here within seconds if anyone calls them. A neighbour died (natural causes) a few years ago, and it took the Police twenty minutes to break his door in because of the security doors we all have as standard. I think I'll take my rough council estate over living in fear every day.

Move to Scotland

Be careful you’ll put their eye out!

Either move to make your house the most unattractive to have a go at.
Advertise you have cctv running.
Lots of security lights
Get beware of the dog stickers
Hire a security expert to come round and check for weaknesses

If you make sure it's obvious you are not easy to rob you'll discourage them.

I'd suggest moving to either an area you'd feel safer or, even better, gated community with full security.
Being in possession of any kind of weapon is not the best idea.
You might feel a bit better if you took some self defence classes too.
Have a good network of neighbours you can call on if you are ever worried.
And, most importantly, you should never tell anyone when your DH is away and neither should your children (if you have any). My DH travelled frequently for work and I never told anyone as he was away, you don't know who can overhear you. Don't advertise it in any way. Don't make your house a target either. Get some advice on crime prevention from your local police force.

Ditch the idea of weapons as you don’t want to defend yourself, you want to stop them coming in. Keep small lights on timers and the radio on a talking channel so it sounds like someone is up and awake downstairs if they do get in. That was the advice given to us by police after we were burgled twice in London. It’s a really scary thing to happen so look after yourself, your anxiety will improve over time.

Have you considered living somewhere else?

Airgun is not a defence against anything that's coming though your steel door, but it could cause serious harm if your children got hold of it & pointed it at each others faces from a foot away.

In my old house someone did break in & I chucked a statue that used to live on my desk (so was just close to hand not a weapon I went looking for) at them.

I got told off by the police for doing so because apparently if you hurt a madman who has smashed through your front door, you can be prosecuted for harming them.
Luckily for me he obviously wasn't a fan of art because he freaked out & ran away taking my phone with him.
It later turned out he'd broken into the wrong house & I was not the woman he intended to harm.

Apparently you are supposed to just hope they don't kill you & don't do anything to hurt the poor burglar menz even if they try to hurt you so you don't get in trouble.

You're probably better off getting a non-firing replica and using it try to trick people. If you shoot someone with an airgun you will prosecuted, if they have a knife etc you will probably get off but the huge Q would be how did you manage to get the airgun loaded and pointed at someone in time unless it was already setup ready and that is a massive no no in the UK.

A far better option is some good pepper spray. Mind you, it's illegal in the UK.

Obviously lots on here are mocking and hinting this is made up but on the post about ‘hotline to the police’, we have panic buttons which go straight to the security company who immediately contact the police. It’s 24 hour monitored so they do exist.

I agree it’s a bad idea to get a dog merely for security, particularly from one of these unethical companies who produce them ‘ready trained’.

I live in a 1930s semi in a much smaller city, so maybe not the same, but we had someone try to break in for our car keys. We have a standard house alarm on the windows, they burst the lock on the sash and case window. When they pushed the window open, the blaring alarm went off, and they ran.

Half an hour later, they did the same to an unalarmed window, three houses down and took their car keys and car. Most burglars just want an easy in and out. If you have proper alarms and deterrents that should be sufficient.

If it’s not, I’d suggest moving to somewhere safer.

Regardless, trying to arm yourself against an unknown intruder seems like a bit too much of a gamble.

Do you have space to install a panic room?

Some streets in London in very wealthy areas club together to hire private security guards.

@sadeyedladyofthelowlandsea

Jesus. I live on a council estate so rough that at least 3 taxi firms won't even pick me up unless I give a false address. The irony is that I've never lived anywhere safer, because the Police are here within seconds if anyone calls them. A neighbour died (natural causes) a few years ago, and it took the Police twenty minutes to break his door in because of the security doors we all have as standard. I think I'll take my rough council estate over living in fear every day.

Really I grew up in a London Council Estate the police wouldnt set foot in, never had any burglary and TBH you were better off going to the yardies if there was any problem, they tended to sort stuff out rather then risk the police on their turf if a lot of things were reported, so there wasnt any spates of anything theft related there, just a lot of drugs.