[bobochan]

I am in the same situation. I felt a massive surge of anxiety just reading all of the suggestions here. There are locks on some of the doors from the 1940s, but to the best of my knowledge they have never been used and we do not have any keys.

[crispinb]

We're pretty lucky (in this respect at least). People who haven't experienced what it's like to be without that subtle tension and distrust that permeates most cities simply can't understand how it changes the experience of living ( for the better).

[teknopaul]

I live in the city and prefer to leave the door unlocked. Cameras ensure if someone did "borrow something" I can get it back.

[vdfs]

You are missing the point of surveillance, it's not always about bad things, and even if 99% of the time nothing happen where you live you my want to capture the some of the 1% moments. It's also useful if you want to know who came when you are not home or when you have delivery.

[Symbiote]

I think I'm better off not knowing who comes when I'm away.

If they have any business with me, they know my phone number or email address, or they can write a letter.

Otherwise, I'd rather not worry about the mysterious strangers. 99.99999% of them will be delivering pizza leaflets anyway.

[homonculus1]

No hostility but this is such a myopic, complacent mentality. In various places I've lived there have been burglars walking around casing the home, neighbors' houses getting broken into, and even a shooting right outside my stoop. I'm two or three degrees of acquaintance away from multiple people who've been murdered in home invasions. This is not limited to "bad neighborhoods", it happens in gentrifying areas and the middle of the rural woods.

Putting your head in the sand about it is just naïve optimism that I can't relate to. The odds are greater than you realize and the stakes are your life, it just makes no sense not to take a few precautionary measures for home defense. You don't have to make a hobby of it or go full prepper, but basic gun ownership and entry hardening don't require that much effort or expense and yield a huge ROI on protection from very realistic threats.

[Symbiote]

We are worlds apart — I don't think I've ever had a reply on HN further from my experience.

The murder rate in the USA is 5.3. In both the UK and Denmark (the countries I've lived) it's 1.2. Furthermore, the general feeling in society in both countries is that murder victims are criminals (drug dealers etc) or relatives/friends with the murderer (domestic violence, arguments). This is backed up at least by the British statistics [1] "furtherance of theft or gain accounted for 7% of homicides" "among suspects: 42% were known to be drug users and around a quarter (24%) were known to be drug dealers".

I've never known anyone who was murdered. I've never heard anyone speak of someone they know being murdered.

The burglary rate is higher, but a camera system probably isn't much of a deterrent.

> basic gun ownership

(1) Run away, (2) Hide, (3) Call 112?

[1] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeand...

[homonculus1]

Running in a panic, hiding like a frightened animal, and pleading with the government to protect my physical safety in a timely manner are not attractive options to me.

[crispinb]

I'm assuming you're referring to the US, in which case it's worth bearing in mind that your nation's violence rates are often well outside the norm amongst developed nations. I can assure you the only relationship I (or friends & family) have ever had with murder is via TV. I did have a friend who had been raped during a home invasion, but that was during a visit to the US.

If I had to install special security equipment and arm myself with a machine for making holes in other people to 'feel safe', I'd rather move somewhere with a more peaceful culture if I had the option.

[crispinb]

Too late to edit, so just to add: I'm well aware that the US is huge, regional, and diverse. The aggregate figures cover over much of importance, which makes it hard to compare as a whole to other individual nations. There are of course American communities as peaceable as anywhere else in the world.

[homonculus1]

Yes, we have extremely violent subcultures that are not present in Europe. But I don't want to uproot my life and abandon my friends, family and country. I just want the option of defending myself.

[crispinb]

I don't believe "violent subcultures" is quite the right way to put it. Violence is a deep part of US history, which its mainstream culture vaunts & clings to. In some ways, I believe US culture has a kind of love affair with violence, and can't quite bear the thought of just letting it go. Peaceability is always and everywhere hard to achieve to various degrees of course, but in the US there is a strand, broader than in most of modernity, which doesn't find it desirable at all.

[bobochan]

I respect this opinion, and some of my neighbors feel the same way. For me it is a matter of assessing the relative risks, and there has not been a violent crime in my town in anyone's living memory. I am certainly not opposed to gun ownership, but a biathlon rifle is not exactly made for self-defense.

There is a benefit to living in an area of trust even beyond the mental benefit of being free from worry and stress. A great bonus for me is that I do not have to be home when someone needs to come service the heating system or look at the pipe under the sink. Local tradespeople know that the doors are generally open in our neighborhood so they can come and go as needed without anyone having to take time off from work to let them in. It is also very helpful for our neighbors who can get into the garage to borrow a tool or leave something they just baked on our kitchen table.

There are definitely places where I would probably not feel comfortable leaving everything open, but I am glad that most of my life has been spent in a community where we do not need to worry about our personal safety.

[teknopaul]

Just because you record does not mean you view the recordings. You only look if something bad actually happens