Gun Control & RKBA

...you have no earthly idea of what those two were after. Once they began breaking into the home, there is no reason to assume they weren't willing to resort to violence. You might elect to default to the assumption that they were only after possessions and would not commit violence, but there is certainly no ethical mandate to do so. In such situations, faced with a significant probability of grave injury and no possible way to determine the intentions of the threatening parties, using force is a reasonable response. That's not prioritizing possessions over human life, it's prioritizing your human life over that of someone presenting a credible threat.

Moreover, although it can have no bearing on the boy's decision-making process, in hindsight he acted correctly: these men turned out to be armed (indicating willingness to use deadly force) and possessed long felony records, one of which(ironically, the one who lived to face life in prison) definitely included violent crimes.