Lethal force can’t be used to protect property, I think, because the punishment isn’t proportionate to the crime. Having my car stolen, for instance, would be a huge crime against me, I could lose my livelihood and etc., but, it wouldn’t KILL me.
Myself I favor double, triple, quadruple restitution as per the Bible. Far more just.
Sorry, but this is intrinsically a wrong headed arguement IMHO. I work for what I get. I sacrfice my time and a portion of my life for it. When someone comes to take that thing that I have worked for, my possession, they are:
1) Showing clear and utter disregard for my life.
2) Placing themselves in a position where I MUST assume they are a mortal threat to my life (they are not there to do my good, therefore there is a huge potential that they will do my harm to get what they want to take).
For these reasons, any intruder, anyone stealing your property should be considered a dangerous and mortal threat to your life...and you should confront them accordingly, or risk losing your very life.
You should also be able to take whatever means necessary to prevent them from stealing that which you have worked for. Anything else, invites chaos and emboldens criminals.
Having your car stolen from you, while you’re in it, being CARJACKED IS ABSOLUTELY A CRIME where you can indeed defend yourself with deadly force. It COULD KILL YOU. Look at the many people who were car jacked int he last few years who LOST their lives and couldn’t defend themselves. Then look at the reduced number of carjackings since folks have started arming themselves and actually SHOOTIng the car jackers. MUCH LESS CRIME
The punishment is plenty proportionate to the crime. Thieves cause people to live in constant fear of losing important and hard-earned possessions, cause others to give up after major losses of what they’ve worked so hard for, cause people to spend huge amounts of money on security measures and insurance, necessitating a lot of extra time spent working to earn that money, rather than with their children or elderly parents.
When thieves make a voluntary decision to violate the property rights of another person, they should regard that as a potentially suicidal decision. Nothing else is a sufficient deterrent, and deterrence is absolutely essential. Good luck even getting single restitution for valuable property taken by some lowlife thug, much less double, triple, quadruple. And there is no way to make restitution for fear, lost time and money for security and insurance, a sense of hopeless defeat in a hard-working person or family, and all the other intangible damage caused by a society overrun with brazen thieves who have no reason to fear death or maiming if they get caught.