WOW! I'm all knocked out ..... 'course, that didn't do, or would not have done, much good for the young woman who died of suffocation after a thug kidnapped her, beat her PIN number out of her, bound her to a tree with duct tape, and then used her card at an ATM to drain her account. By the time the thug got back to where he'd left her, she was dead. The state police caught up with him in Austin, after someone ID'd him from ATM photos.
He went to jail, but she was still dead. Doesn't seem quite proportionate.
I was referring to criminals who try to avoid being photographed at the ATM and hold a gun on the victim while he/she punches in the numbers.
In a free society of 320 million people, I will guess that several million criminals are completely unfazed by the risk of severe punishment because they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or they are mentally ill, or because they are remorselessly evil sociopaths.
I recommend owning and using a personal firearm when dealing with the criminals described above.
But the fact remains that most potential criminals do weigh the risks and rewards of their crimes.
The number of individuals and businesses that use cash goes down every year, which means that criminal opportunities also go down every year.