This is typical NuLab: spin, spin, spin and more spin.
What is the point of debating a subject when it has already been decided there will be no change? What we want is a change in the law that permits us to use all necessary force, whether excessive or not, when confronted with a criminal in our house.
It seems that yet again NuLab has decided the criminals will consistantly win, and we honest people always lose. Worse still, the Police Service (what's that?) won't chase a criminal in case they infringe Health & Safety rules, and accidently cut their fingure on a sharp house brick. Welcome to NuLab's madhouse!

Desmond, Barnstaple, Devon

All hail the Second Amendment! As long as the body falls inside the house, you're good.

Douglas Carr, Houston, TX

As a Jewess in the US, I can say this is why here in America, we put our 2nd Amendment FIRST!!!

Wendy Weinbaum, Dallas, Txas USA

What's the matter with you people over there? Having to 'authorize' self defense? Have you let all the pot-smoking flower children of the sixties run your legal system? Have you forgotten Chamberlin? You all need to read the works of one of your own, one of the most brilliant, clear-thinking people you have have ever produced, John Locke.He had a profound sense of truth when he was considering human society. It is impossible to overstate the effect his thinking has had on the world. In his "Second Treatis On Civil Governement" he stated undeniable truths. One, approximately, was that ".any Man who preys on another is at War with all Humanity and it is both the Right and the Obligation of all Men to wage war..." to any degree necessary to end the predation, even to death of the predator. Don't you people ever learn? The answer to "Can't we all just get along?" is a categorical "NO", regardless of how ernestly you wish it otherwise. Wolves exist. Are you Sheepdogs or just Sheep?

Jacob Theodore, Long Island, New York , U.S. of America

I am shocked and surprised to hear there are guns in the place formerly known as Great Britain. Didn't the all-knowing government outlaw them in the 90's? I guess the criminals didn't hear about that. Maybe more education about the unfair advantage guns give criminals will encourage them to play fair. Of course, that might not go down well with the multi-culturalists--fair play might seem too, er, English.

Criminals don't play fair in Florida either, but at least I am allowed to protect my life and property without fear of being jailed. In all of history, only free men have been allowed to protect themselves.

Guy Macher, Celebration, Florida USA

So a 90 year old woman is allowed to wrestle the three bat -ielding burglers to the ground but if she brandishes a gun she will spend her final days in prison?

See what happens when you keep electing liberal politicians?

Guns don't kill people; Keeping guns out of the hands of honest citizens does.

Peter Grynch, Chicago, Ill. USA

Whn guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.
A proven fact. Crime increases when individuals are prevented from defending themselves. Prosecution of anyone for defending themselves is absurb. A society permitted self-defense is a peaceful society.

Nay, Tatum, USA

I live is a state of the US where I can kill an attacker in or out of my home without fear of governmental oppression. The right to self-defense is a cornerstone of a free society.

Tom G., Edmond, OK, USA

The right to self-defense is the most basic of rights. A dog enjoys that type of protection and carries its weapons as claws and teeth. The mere debate over whether a human enjoys the right to defend themselves, their homes, and their families from violence is absurd in the extreme. Grow a backbone or perish.

Isaac, Oxford, USA

Across the Pond we are facing the same insanity. Along with a growing number of mentally unstable police, who, when comfronting an upset citizen will wip out ' The Taser' and shoot the citizen in the back when he or she is walking away.
I assume walking away is a form of assualt against a police officers self esteme. I have determened that the general public has become the victim of both criminals and police ( did I repeat myself?) is because for both we are soft targets.
The police and criminals both need each other in order to define themselves but they don't need us.

Andrew is right when he wrote ' Face it, the police are part of the problem'.

Way back when I went through the Police Academy I had a Criminal Law instuctor who said " Don;t expect the law to make sense. They call it 'The Criminal Justice System ' for a reason". Smart man.

Richard, Park City, USA

The right to self defense pre-exists government. No government has the legitimate authority to place 20/20 hind sight restrictions on it.
In England, it is almost to the point that if someone breaks in, armed, intent to do harm, the resident must first ask what kind of tea the thug would like. And since in England, only the criminals have guns, these thugs know they can do there work in safety. Because even if they do have a gun and a homeowner disarms and kills them in the process, the court will always decide that the homeowner is a murderer because he should have known that all he had to do was take away the burgler's gun.
Even the "amendment" places all the weight on the authority's assessment of what should have been "reasonable" without consideration to the threat the home owner actually believed present.
England needs a Castle law like many states are adopting here. Anyone who enters a home illegally is assumed to mean deadly harm. The DA can not assume anything else. Saves $$

Mark, Lowell, USA / MA

You have no property rights if you have no right to defend your property. The criminal have guns and little to fear. The law enforcement community can’t do much to punish anyone except law abiding citizens and taxpayers. It’s not entirely different in some parts of the US. For so many criminals, incarceration only means an enforced improved standard of living with free everything and no need to work. Something needs to change ... and the current system of “political correctness” needs to be forgotten.

dc, atlanta, USA/georgia

Now does everyone see why the founding fathers gave the US the 2nd Amendment? Too many Americans are like sheep and are trying to ban guns in the US. When that day comes you will see a NEW DECLARAION OF INDEPENDENCE drawn up and the next revolution to hit America. The number 1 reason for the 2nd amendment is to control a tyrannical government. :)

Patriot, Manorville, USA/NY

Baseball bats and ski-masks: Then it's, "Turn your neighbourhood watch into a right-wing death squad." Face it, the police are part of the problem, not the solution.
So doesn't emigrating sound a far better option? The UK's social problems are not your responsibility, so take the necessary steps to make sure they are no longer your problem. The only voting you need to do is with your feet.

Andrew Milner, Yokohama, Japan

why is it called Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill-it sounds like only immigrants commit crimes in UK.

Pauline, UK,

With the greatly increasing use of guns and knives in the streets now, as well as gangs kicking innocent citizens to death it is time to allow respectable and law abiding citizens to carry guns for self-protection. It is a proven fact that where guns are allowed, the crime rates are very low compared to countries where only the criminals carry guns. I know because I have lived in them and even if you do not carry a gun, the criminal will usually not attack for he or she does not know whether or not you have the means to defend yourself. I do not include South Africa in my travel experiences for even the police are scared of the criminals there now.

B J Deller, Marbella, Spain

It is not the law that is the problem, it is the way in which the police enforce or interpret the law. The police have discretion, or at least used to, before targets and other statistical measurements where introduced.

K Crossland, Cardiff, UK

This appears to be a welcome move, and I am glad that the matter is being discussed, but as the shadow justice secretary has said, it does not give any more protection to the householder or citizen on the street.

I fear that this may be a hollow attempt to win favour back for the Labour party. However, if this inspires further laws to be passed empowering honest law-abiding people to act in self-defence then it will have been a worthwhile move.

I will personally not be satisfied until we have a level of legal self-defense that allows the good and lawful yet physically weak, such as the elderly, young women and those living alone, to be put on a level playing field with bigger, stronger criminals.

This includes the use of firearms in self-defence, since it is the best means available to the weaker members of society. It is worth noting that the right to firearms for defence was taken away not by a commons debate or consultation, but by internal home office decisions and policies.

TC, London, UK

so the innocent bystander or householder will still be arrested and the criminal will still get away with murder. The topsy turvey world of nulab.

Rob Jones, kettering,