Anti-Burglar Guns This gun practice should please both pro-and anti-gun control parties. A major, and legitimate, defense of gun ownership is to protect against burglars. The best anti-burglar gun is a double barrelled shotgun loaded with medium size shot, not a hand gun. A shotgun is much easier to aim accurately than a hand gun. It is more intimidating than a hand gun because of its size. It is less likely to actually kill the burglar so there is less inhibition about actually firing it. It is less likely to be stolen by a burglar during your absence because it cannot easily be hidden by him and for the same reason it is not useful to a street robber. A long gun is much less likely to be played with by children than a hand gun because of its size and weight. (To safety a hand gun by locking it up makes it slow to access if there is a real burglar, while a loaded shotgun can safely be kept by the head of your bed.) The mechanism is simpler so it is less likely than a hand gun, particularly an automatic, to jam after a long period of storage. Its pellets will not punch through a wall and hit someone in the next room or the next house. A long gun is also less tempting than a concealed weapon to carry it into bars or elsewhere where a fight may develop and tempt you to use it. A concealed hand gun is of no help if you are confronted in the street by a robber pointing a gun at you you have no time to get yours out and he will shoot you if he thinks you are trying. (If you are a policeman you may be in a position to draw first so hand guns are appropriate for police officers.) As a separate matter, I suggest the following practice to inhibit children from playing with either long guns or hand guns. Tie a loop of cotton thread through the trigger guard. Anchor the loop to the wall or to the inside of the drawer with adhesive tape or cement. Show the anchored gun to the children and warn them of the consequences to them if that loop is broken. To prevent an aggressive child from replacing the loop after playing with the gun, use a colored thread and lock up the spool so you can replace the loop yourself. When you want the gun yourself, just take it and the thread will break. The author seems to suggest that ______.