jbow noone should blame a guy for trying to protect his wife and possessions. I think most would opt for that stategy. I have to hand it to my friend for keeping it together. I think in his case it saved him and his wife. Maybe in another situation grabbing that glass candle holder at just the right time or grabbing a gun is the answer.
As far as my stuff is concerned, it's only stuff. If it came down to me or my stuff my family is more important than anything material. It would probably be a vain attempt against two or more thugs with weapons but if they tried to hurt my wife I would probably die trying to protect her. If they attempted to hurt me and I had a way to stop that, you bet I would. Since most robberies are not motivated by anything more than a person who wants to loot. IOW they have no real interest in hurting you unless you get in the way. Then if they are hell bent on having my stuff, let em' have it and I'll call the cops and likely get it all back at some point.
Quite a few years ago a church we went to was robbed. They took all of the sound gear. It wasn't two weeks later they were apprehended and all the gear was returned. They had gotten careless after having robbed numerous establishments and businesses. There are happy endings to lost and stolen stuff sometimes.
I looked into the whole camera thing. Those fake cameras look fake...from a distance. There are workarounds for everything and you need to build in backups for the backups. If they can get to your electric meter all they need to do is pull it and your cameras go bye bye.Seeing the cameras can be both good and bad. If you see them you can find ways to avoid them. You can "blind" a sensitive night camera with simply a very bright flashlight. And most importantly, if they rob you, you will have pics of what? Most of the time the culprit is disguised and you see the pics after the event has already occurred.If you have wireless cameras the batts can get low. If you have wired cameras the wires can be cut. I'm not saying cameras are useless but there are holes a smart criminal can get through.
I think both cameras and guns are sometimes more of a pacifier than any actual good. They make us feel like we are protected, but are we really? Everything is conditional. A stupid crook might get caught. The more savy ones not so much. Sorry Herb, are security companies selling actual security or prying on fears? There is the feeling of security with cameras, guns, window sensors etc etc. It certainly can be a deterrent. From a criminal perspective they might think, " Why do they have their house under so much security? There must be something really valuable in there". In that case they might be even more prone to consider breaking in. Visible security can draw attention to yourself. The fake camera seems middle ground. " This guy was too cheap to buy a real security system." Maybe hidden security is the best. Maybe the scarf will fall off his face and the hidden camera might catch it.