While the parent is correct that the person robbing a store is very likely using a weapon to do it, they left out that the US uses a rather extreme increasing p

While the parent is correct that the person robbing a store is very likely using a weapon to do it, they left out that the US uses a rather extreme increasing punishment system for repeat offenders. People robbing stores, I'd wager, are often repeat offenders. Mandatory minimum sentencing laws over the last few decades have dramatically increased the prison-time durations for those people, even for many lesser/low violence crimes.