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<blockquote data-quote="JoeUSooner" data-source="post: 4209117" data-attributes="member: 55109">I&#039;ve always maintained two &quot;truisms,&quot; based upon straightforward human psychology.1) Severity of punishment is not as effective as certainty of punishment, and2) When the cost of taking an action is greater than the participant is willing to pay, that action will not be taken in the first place.Based upon those &#039;givens,&#039; just a single well-publicized incident of a border guard firing at - near, around, toward, close to, etc. (not, necessarily, hitting) - an approaching column of &quot;illegal-want-to-be&quot;s will [note: that&#039;s not &quot;might&quot; or &quot;may&quot; or &quot;could,&quot; I said will] result in a distinct reduction in future border-crossing attempts. Even if it does not entirely eliminate all future attempts, a significant and permanent numerical reduction will in fact result. Which is a preventative measure that is at least a step in the correct direction!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="JoeUSooner, post: 4209117, member: 55109"] I've always maintained two "truisms," based upon straightforward human psychology. 1) Severity of punishment is not as effective as [U]certainty[/U] of punishment, and 2) When the cost of taking an action is greater than the participant is willing to pay, that action will not be taken in the first place. Based upon those 'givens,' just a single well-publicized incident of a border guard firing [I]at[/I] - near, around, toward, close to, etc. (not, necessarily, hitting) - an approaching column of "illegal-want-to-be"s will [note: that's not "might" or "may" or "could," I said [B]will[/B]] result in a distinct reduction in future border-crossing attempts. Even if it does not entirely eliminate all future attempts, a significant and permanent numerical reduction will in fact result. Which is a [I]preventative[/I] measure that is at least a step in the correct direction! [/QUOTE]

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