To get back to the "death sentence" for a "damaged TV":

Did this happen? Was someone shot dead for stealing a damaged television?

I have heard several interviews with Gulf Coast cops -- in New Orleans and Mississippi -- who deliberately let people taking food, water, and other essentials pass unheeded. As one said, "As long as they're taking what they need we won't do anything."

As for the National Guard, I've been there. Ain't nobody gonna shoot anyone who hasn't shot at you first. One of the first and most rigid rules is that you only -- ONLY!!! -- respond with deadly force when deadly force has been used against you. (If you doubt this, consider Kent State: yes, it was a coverup. And it is used as an example in riot training of what happens when command and control break down and "massed unit fire" is wrongly used.) Even during the riots of the '60s, in Detroit and LA and Chicago, I have never heard of a substantiated case where a looter was shot dead simply for looting. For other reasons, yes; in response to real or imagined gunfire, yes. But not for simply taking a television or anything else.