quote:
Why would you shoot some scumbag who is fleeing with something they took off your porch? Surely your yard art covered by your home insurance. I REALLY don't want to have a life on my conscious unless I'm saving my and/or my families' lives. Certainly not worth having do deal with that, or the legal issues that come along with it, unless it was a life or death issue. Nothing I own is worth killing someone over.
as with any self defense situation argued over the intertron, no amount of typed words can ever fully describe the nuances of the situation. So to base a hypothetical reaction on a hypothetical situation that is severely lacking in details is futile.
This leaves us arguing larger picture sub-situations, and having others extrapolate those views to other sub-situations for sake of argument.
For instance, in response to isleags comment: I dont want to have to shoot and kill someone either. But at the end of the day it is either me or them, and I would like to think that I am mentally and physically prepared to protect my soul. This said, if the situation reveals itself as a some punk kid stealing my lawn gnome, deadly force might not be appropriate. If I get the feeling the guy kicking in my front door is so brazen that he might attempt to return when I am gone and my wife and child are home alone, well...
This is why i asked the OP if the guy kicking in the door thought the house was empty, or was he kicking it in knowing people were inside. If he was kicking it in and knew people were inside, I feel the threat must be stopped. That threat extends beyond the immediate present in my view.
You are correct that property is of less value than life. But evil has no morals; and evil must be fought on a level playing field if the just individual is to stand a chance.