I'm surprised at how callous many on this site have become, which maybe is an indicator of the negative effects military service has on the psyche. I fully understand the frustration store employees, and this may not have been the first time this individual and his store was targeted, maybe even by the same individual. But at the end of the day, its just stuff. I would not take another person's life just because I was deprived of some replaceable items. And you can argue that the crook needed to be taught a lesson so they wouldn't do it again. Fine, take that stance, but be ready to accept the consequences, that's all. Most human life has value, and we shouldn't be so callous to think that it doesn't. Because there may be a day where we aren't on the winning side of a conflict, and we'll be deemed to be the criminals who someone else thinks deserve to be punished.
I greatly value human life, and I don’t aim to take lives indiscriminately.
I however don’t have a lot of sympathy for people who prey on others. I believe that poor decisions have consequences, and negative feedback for those actions is necessary to deter the continuation of those actions as well as to discourage others from that sort of activity.
WRT “just stuff”, well it’s someone’s property, and criminals who take it are doing harm to the owners, as well as potential injury to the owner and others, I believe that everyone has an inherent right to protect themselves, others and their property. When you say it’s replaceable, that just diminishes the value of people’s property- sometimes it isn’t or it would be replaced at great cost (time, efforts, money).
In the case of this robber, honestly fuck him, he came in an attacked the store clerk with a bat. Had I been there during the attack I’d have shot him and not given it much thought. He relinquished his right to life when he made the initial assault. A bat when used as a weapon is deadly weapon, and as such lethal force can be articulated as reasonable to stop the attack. Now the clerk being in Canada wasn’t armed, nor was LE present.
Personally the fact that the clerk got the bat and returned the favor to me, seems fair.
Now I can understand the legal implications of continuing the attack once the threat is gone, but without a detailed breakdown of the circumstances, and what little we know, I’m not going to blame the clerk.
@Lumber I would agree that executing an injured criminal goes to far, unless there is a pressing reason that justifies it. Yes I can come up with several scenarios that sort of action would be appropriate.