When is it OKAY to LOOT?

This subject used to bug me as a child, probably around the time I was beginning to see the unfairness in the world. I remember some old disaster movie where the police were told to shoot looters.

Now I know it's a real event. The rumours are thousands of people were shot just after hurricane Katrina. One that springs to mind is a hungry man who took a sausage (or was it milk?) from an already broken shop window and he was shot dead. If the stories are correct, the police were out to shoot looters instead of helping people in distress.

Then there was that sad story of the little girl after the Haiti earthquake who was shot in the head for picking up a couple of ugly useless 6x8 wall pictures because she thought they were pretty, or maybe 'cos she thought someone would give her a penny for them.

Now there's all these London looters going to jail for longer that you would if you raped or mugged a stranger.

There must be a time when it's okay to loot? Expecially after a catastrophe when you and your kids might be hungry 'cos your fridge has been blown up, or blown away. You're starving and the smashed up shop across the road has all these beans tins rolling out the front door. Shouldn't that be okay? Should folk be shot for that?

This question annoys me and I think there should be some rule in the disaster rule book for such an event. I don't want your plasma telly or your jewellery box. I want water and a pie. We should know when it's okay to loot.

food, when you are starving, anytime.

If there's a tv in your hands, it's probably not ok. If there's baby food in your hands, it's probably ok then...

Or, if your favorite NBA teams wins a championship..

When you are starving, if anything else catches your eye that you happen to need. Grab it too.

I have a large family and if we went through something like Katrina, well yeah, I would loot food and clothes for them. I would not take it from people but stores and restaurants that have been hit and still have merchandise inside that is useable? Damn right I would. Does that make me a criminal? Maybe but for survival I think it is only right. I wouldn't shoot anyone for having a coat or a hotdog but if it is there, I would get it. I guess then that would be death by cop.

In a time of an infrastructure breakdown I think taking food and survival materials would be justified. But when I see people taking large screen TVs during violent riots I think these people are just monsters. There is no justification for that kind of looting. We saw this in the UK recently as well as during katrina where cops were filmed walking down the aisles of Wal-Mart and stripping the shelves bare.

Its understandable when its for food or drink but never because you want to get the latest tech product.

Its probably also ok if you take something when the place is on fire or being flooded and the item will be lost anyway.

However Ive never seen any of the former, its always people going for phones and TVs and they are thieving scumbags.

Take food and run like hell. Anyone seen carrying a tv should have their heads knocked off

Food and Medicine are OK if you need them during a emergency. What bothers me is when people take advantage of unfortunate events and help themselves to unnecessary items like TV's and such. During Katrina I laughed my ass off watching black dudes with a 60' TV but their house was under water. It just goes to show what has become important in our society, these things say alot about peoples mentalities.

When everyone else is dead, it's A-OK to loot. With this world going to hell in a rocket sled, you may not have to wait long.

I would say because the public pays for losses dew to theft etc... and we would have to pay for all the stuff in the store after such a thing happened it's not looting at all you are just taking what is right fully yours yes even the big tv's because you would have to pay for them anyway. When the shop owner filed it all as a loss dew to water damage or whatever. And before someone trys to tell me that it's covered by insurance and not the us tax payer

Losses incurred because of a casualty, disaster, or theft may be tax-deductible. Casualty and theft losses are reported on Form 4684 and Form 1040 Schedule A.

link to source The source explains what it pays. Which is almost any situation involving a natural disaster and many others. sure it may not cover every penny for us but when they are reporting the value of the objects in question and not what they paied they still get more than they paied for them.

reply to post by wigit


When no one is there to witness the act.
2nd Line

If you choose to loot, you choose to break from social convention. If you choose to break from social convention, you become a threat to those trying to maintain social convention.

If looting began taking place in my immediate vicinity, I would have to consider those looters as a direct threat to my person and property, and without a social convention in place, I would have to defend myself by any means possible.

Looting is therefore never "ok" because it signals to others that you have gone rogue, and you are therefore putting yourself at great risk. Mobs can fight back, looters are out for themselves and will scatter.

reply to post by wigit

We should know when it's okay to loot.

When you have a badass ship, an eyepatch and a nickname like "Captain Deadlegs"...

reply to post by NightShift


That's sissy talk boy.
Break something.

reply to post by wigit


I'd say it would be okay to loot if you're starving or absolutely need to survive but the store owners or home owners you're looting from might not see it that way. But if you're desperate enough the need will outweigh any moral doubts you have about doing it, people do what they must to survive.

reply to post by GmoS719


Sissy talk backed by deadly weapons.

If you want to express your rage through an act of public violence, you better stay the hell out of Malibu, Lebowski.

reply to post by NightShift

Sounds like a cowardly move to me.
I could claim I have hundreds of weapons online.
Who cares.

reply to post by GmoS719


I don't have to claim anything.

There are more guns than people in America, and a legion of sworn officers and soldiers whose job it is to enforce social order. And I am not the one itching to test them.

Thanks for your replies. I'm in agreement with most of them.

I would loot if I'm ever in a situation where I have to, but wouldn't it be better if there was a rule for it, like an allowance for it in certain situations, written down in some law somewhere?

But if some twat runs off with a telly in the middle of a flood and the telly shop is in ruins anyway, shouldn't that be more a laughing matter than a man-hunt with a loaded gun?