I always find it amusing when people talk about "deterring" crime by passing laws like this. It's as if everyone who commits a crime sits down with a checklist beforehand. "OK, let's see...no death penalty in this state, but they do extradite; no 'three strikes and you're out' law; concealed carry permits are permissible...hmmm, that means the guy in front of me in line might have a gun, but he would have had to go through a background check and complete 10 hours of mandatory class time to get it, nah, I don't think there's more than a 15% chance of that..." Get real, folks. People rob convenience stores every day, even though they know that at plenty of convenience stores the guy behind the counter has a gun and knows how to use it. Does that stop them? People who commit violent crimes tend to be adolescents, or to have the mental and emotional makeup of an adolescent. Does your teenager always avoid doing things that he knows might be dangerous? Or is he more likely to say, "Hey, it's not going to happen to me!" Aloha, Mark
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