Clause 2 - Short title and extent
Criminal Law (Amendment) (Householder Protection) Bill
10:30 am
Lady Lady Hermon (North Down, UUP)
I am not going to talk about arms decommissioning, but I will respond to the hon. Gentleman by saying that the vast majority of crime and illegal activity has resulted from illegally held weapons, not lawfully held weapons. I am sure that the Minister would confirm that.
The measure would not be a recipe for the use of legally held weapons by householders. However, as a Radio 4 listener who watches scarcely any television—I am pleased that “Doctor Who” has been restored to our screens, because television has never been the same since the last Doctor Who left, however long ago that was, and I have not watched television since—I was fascinated to learn that this issue topped a Radio 4 poll. It was not an orchestrated vote, and it touched the pulse of the nation. People were worried that they did not understand the law, and they felt that the law on protection of people in their homes should be strengthened.
I am curious, as I said in my first intervention on the Minister, about what the evidence is now, post-Home Office press releases on the website, and all the rest: do people still feel that the law is significantly on their side? Someone in the Home Office should follow that up.
Northern Ireland should not be allowed to fall behind the rest of the United Kingdom. Progress on arms decommissioning can be made separately. The issue is not about legally held weapons, because they are not used routinely at all. The vast majority of crime in Northern Ireland is not caused by legally held weapons. Quite the opposite. Legally held weapons have been held by people who have behaved responsibly for 30 years and who have not risen to the intense provocation of the paramilitaries. That is to the credit of the vast majority of the community on both sides in Northern Ireland who have behaved responsibly.