If burglars felt no threat breaking into houses chaos would run rapid. The threat of a short prison stay does not adequately deter crime. The threat of an instant shotgun blast is a much better deterrent.

If our best shot (pardon the pun) is to prevent crime by making people scared to commit it then our society is pretty screwed long term anyway. The deterrent that prevents me from breaking into peoples houses is the conflict with my principles - the basic feeling that it is wrong. If all that concerned me was getting shot then I would probably train to become a better burglar, or carry a bigger gun than most of my victims.

If Martin can demonstrate compassionate principles he can walk out of prison. If his solution to his difficult situation is to continue to shoot people then he's going nowhere.

Rob