The Electronic Security Association bankrolled a burglary study at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte Department of Criminal Justice & Criminology. Understanding Decision to Burglarize is based on interviews with 422 randomly-selected, incarcerated male and female burglars across three states (North Carolina, Kentucky, and Ohio) who never ever lie. Over at ammoland.com, the ESA’s press release lists the top six items burglars take from home – which doesn’t include firearms (go figure). But there’s plenty of interesting info for armed home defenders in the rest of the report. Such as . . .
Some burglars were involved in other forms of serious crime over the course of their offending careers. About 8% reported that they had been charged with homicide, 12% with robbery, and 7% with assault at some point in their past. On the other hand, over 54% reported [ED: claimed] that burglary/breaking-and-entering was the most serious crime that they had been charged with to date.
So nearly one out of ten burglars are killers. Huh. The report concludes that burglars burglarize for money (surprise), often to feed their drug habits. In fact . . .
Within the entire sample, 88% of respondents indicated that their top reason for committing burglaries was related to their need to acquire drugs (51%) or money (37%), although many reported needing the money to support drug problems. Crack or powder cocaine and heroin were the drugs most often reportedly used by these offenders and these substances were often being used in combination with other substances, including marijuana and alcohol, during burglary attempts.
So all those gruff concealed carry class instructors aren’t just blowing smoke: burglars are high. There’s also info that refutes antis’ claims that Americans don’t need “high capacity” ammunition magazines to defend home and hearth. Most burglars don’t work alone.
Just over a fourth of burglars typically worked alone and approximately the same proportion reported never burglarizing alone. Among those who worked with others, most committed burglaries with friends and/or spouses/significant others, although nearly one in eight reported working with other family members.
Are you ready for TWO burglars? And while the report claims that some 60 percent of burglars are deterred by an alarm system, you gotta wonder about that stat given that The Electronic Security Association was paying the bill. “About one in five burglars reported cutting telephone or alarm wires in advance.” Hmm. Does sir want to buy an alarm system connected by cellular phone?
My takeaway: a home invasion is some serious sh!t requiring some serious planning. But then, I’m thinking most of you knew that already. Those who didn’t, well, now you do.