John MacDonald: Taking on burglars is a recipe for disaster 

There are two types of people in the world.

There are the ones who would run a mile if someone was breaking into their house. And there are the ones who would stick around and take them on.

My house, my castle. All of that.

They’re the ones NZ First is trying to appeal to with its promise to look into strengthening self-defence laws. So people can defend themselves and their property without fear of prosecution.

It’s part of the party’s overall law & order policy for next month’s election. Which includes things such as ‘life means life’ prison sentences.

But it’s the self-defence bit that I think this is very dangerous.

Of the two types of people I mentioned before, I’m somewhere in the middle.

I know right now that if someone was breaking into my place, generally, I’d get out of there.

But if any members of my family were being threatened, then, of course, I would stick around and do whatever I needed to do or could do to protect them.

Nevertheless, I’m not a fan of what Winston Peters wants to do. Pretty much for the same reason I’m against the change to the citizens arrest laws.

By making it easier for people to carry out a citizens arrest, we are putting people at risk of getting injured or worse when they take on an offender.

The exact same thing if we go changing the self-defence laws, that will only lead to people putting themselves in very dangerous situations.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t give two hoots about the crims getting injured. It’s the self-defenders that NZ First is going into bat for, that I’m concerned about.

Because you think about your average burglar or home invader. What’s their motivation?

You can pretty much guarantee that a lot, if not most, of the people who break into other people’s houses are doing it to support a drug habit.

Which means the only thing they care about is doing whatever they can do or need to do to get their next hit.

How do you think they’re going to react if the person living in the house they’re breaking into takes them on?

They’re not going to take kindly to it. Because all they care about is the drugs.

What’s more, even with the self-defence laws as they stand at the moment, we have people taking things too far.

Remember the case of the farmer who cut off the finger of a teenager who broke into his property?

Remember too that there have been cases where homeowners have taken burglars on and have come off second best.

Why would we ever consider encouraging that sort of carry-on?

Which is exactly what NZ First wants to do. It might sound good to some. But I think it would be a very dangerous move.

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