George Wenzel wrote in
message ...
wrote

A homeowner with a pistol (or the fear of a homeowner
with a pistol) is the only guaranteed burglary deterent.

Bull****. Say you've got a house with no alarm and no dog. Want
to find out if there's a homeowner there with a gun? Use foolproof
method: RING THE DOORBELL. If nobody answers, then you don't
have to worry about the "guaranteed burglary deterrent" being a problem.

There is a risk that someone inside will choose not to
answer the door, assuming that its just a salesfool etc.

With a dog inside, that should make it obvious to
even the stupidest crim that there is a dog inside and
it should be obvious its a large dog when it is too.

Oh, and don't forget that you vastly increase the
chances that you or a family member will get shot
if you decide to keep a loaded weapon in your house.

Not if you take sensible precautions with the firearms.

Guard dogs can be killed, alarms don't bother the
smash-and-grab crooks, burglar bars only slow the squints.

All of these methods are perfectly reasonable ways of making
your house a less desirable target than the one next to it, which
is all you really need to do to prevent break-ins. Crooks (for the
most part) aren't stupid - they'll target the house that looks like
it's the least trouble to get in and out of.