[ruytlm]

Imagine you had an employer with some empathy instead of the dystopian employment hellscape that seems to exist in the USA, and your entire justification falls down. When the response to "a thief damaged my car" is "that's shit, what can we do to help make sure you can get to work" instead of "well you're fired then", suddenly there's no real loss, and therefore no reason to be killing thieves.

I mean, if you want to go full 'Murica free market, if you lose your livelihood because your car is damaged, it's arguably your own fault for not having insurance. What if instead of a thief stealing a catalytic converter, it's a tree falling on your car? Do you shoot the tree?

The only time it's acceptable to use lethal force is to directly protect yourself (and in some circumstances others) from immediate unavoidable harm; and even then it should be a last resort after all other alternatives are exhausted.