Jackonicko,
Does anyone have the statistics for the number of armed criminals killed by homeowners? And unarmed criminals?
It's a worthwhile point. In the USA, it's one of the points of contention between pro- and anti- right to bear arms folks.
The problem is, the collection of statistics... if an armed criminal is killed, it's probable that no crime has been commited, and it won't be recorded. The more general problem is figuring out exactly how many crimes are *prevented* by gun use, without a shot even being fired. Can range from a homeowner simply displaying a gun to a burglar and them turning tail, to the burglar who decides to 'walk on bye' when he sees an 'armed response' sign, to the non-specific 'general deterrent' to crime, of knowing that many of the people around you are armed.
It's very difficult to collect statistics on crimes that *don't* happen!
The figures do seem to bear out the view that, where guns are widely owned and carried, crime is lower. Where laws that permit this are introduced, crime goes down.
To what extent this is cause and effect is another matter for debate!
R1