Second off, I respectfully disagree with you Mama. Perhaps I shouldn't admit this, especially considering my wife lost a close friend in high school to a drunk driver, there are many occasions in my younger years where I most certainly would have driven drunk if not for;
It may well appear, at times, that laws might change behavior, but a little research into the known facts would show you that this is not really true. Otherwise, since there have always been "laws" against murder, theft and so forth.... if they were effective, one would think there would be no more crime by this time.
Aggressive behavior of all kinds, those things which harm people, MAY be influenced by all kinds of things, including the social pressures of the family and society around them. The "law" is certainly a part of that social environment. Individuals vary greatly in their response to such influence, but those who commit aggressive crimes are obviously less or not at all willing to submit to those influences.
The way to test this is to think of a crime, such as theft. If there were no "law" against it at all, would YOU then be tempted to commit that crime? With no "law" to provide a mechanism for capture and punishment, would you think it something you might indulge in?
Then look at it from another direction. Take the Muslim countries, for example. They have many very serious "laws" about the relationships between men and women. The penalty for breaking these laws are serious, often resulting in death. Have those laws eliminated all of that behavior among good, devout Muslims? Not in the least.
So, the law is, in most instances, simply a mechanism of society to punish those who choose to engage in proscribed behavior. It is only a small part of actually preventing such behavior since punishment can only come into play after the fact - and that only if the person can actually be caught or convicted. Do you know the actual conviction rate for violent crime in the US? Very, very poor. And yet, the number of violent crimes continues to drop. Obviously, enforcement of the law is not a key player in this. Why is that? Are people taking more responsibility for themselves and preventing crime by being aware and armed? It would seem that way.
We often say, "locks keep honest men honest." Locks, like laws, cannot deter the person who is determined to commit aggression. All of the serious "laws" that attempt to disarm everyone in Chicago, for instance, do not seem to have much influence on the criminals who prey on the innocent there... the totally disarmed innocent who obey those monstrous anti-gun and anti-self defense "laws."
We can talk about other "laws" that proscribe non-aggressive behavior another day.
And bless you, Kingfish.