The total number of firearms purchased by residents increased 73 percent from 2006 to 2011.

Via Fairfax Times

Virginia is the worst state in the U.S. for burglars, according to a new nationwide study by a security systems company.

According to statistics compiled by SimpliSafe Home Security Systems, Virginia homeowners are 46 percent less likely to be burgled than the national average.

The study compares the legislative codes of all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia, and contrasts maximum and minimum burglary sentences, as well as maximum fines, as well as other factors.

According to the study, Virginia has both the highest maximum fine for burglary–$100,000–as well as the toughest maximum prison sentence–life in prison.

“We also looked into ‘stand your ground’ and ‘castle doctrine’ laws, which mandate the lengths to which homeowners can legally go to protect their property, under the logic that getting shot at is, effectively, another consequence of burglary in some places,” the study states. “In order to compare states, we developed a ranking system that weighed each data point according to where it fell within its range. We added up these weights to get a total for each state, sorted the totals, and came up with this list: the 13 states where you really, really don’t want to be convicted of burglary.”

Virginia tops that list, followed by South Carolina and Alabama in second and third place, respectively.

“Castle doctrine” laws are named after the concept that a person’s home is their castle, and can be defended from dangerous intruders with deadly force. “Stand your ground” laws are related to castle doctrine laws, but extend outside one’s home.

HT Lucianne