I live in London UK and I was a victim of a home invasion a few years ago. Firstly, I'd say us Brits never use the term ‘home invasion’- it’s a burglary.
We owned a 2 bedroom Victorian terraced house in an up and coming area called Wood Green at the time, which we considered pretty safe.
In the middle of the night I was woken by my wife who said she thought she could hear someone downstairs, to put her mind at ease I got up and went to investigate, as I got to the top of the landing I saw man with armfuls of my stuff walking out, still half asleep (and half naked) I shouted “Oi!”. As soon as he saw me he ran, I followed him up the street until he jumped into a van and drove off.
I immediately called the police, who turned up within 3mins and begin hunting the area for the robbers. They got away.* We claimed on our house insurance for £2000 worth of stolen items, which were replaced for new.
Now if we were allowed to arm ourselves in this country I honestly don't know how the situation could have been any better. Maybe in a panic I'd have tried to shoot the intruder? Or maybe he'd have tried to shoot me upon being discovered? In fact, any weapon would have been useless. I've thought about it a lot since and keeping a weapon beside me when I sleep would only serve to reassure that irrational part of my brain that is now paranoid about it happening again.
People in this country (and I suspect in most places) don't break into your house to hurt you, they break in to take your things. Let them. Things can be replaced (you'll get brand new stuff). If we were encouraged to defend ourselves I'm pretty sure the burglars would be far more able (and willing) to cause serious harm than you or I.
*a few months later I was called by the police who said they'd caught the people responsible, robbing someone else. They were found guilty of multiple burglaries and are now in prison for a long time.
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