By contrast, in 1984 only 8 states had such statutes, and 15 did not allow handgun carrying at all, said John Lott, a researcher of gun culture who has held teaching or research posts at a number of universities, including the University of Chicago.
Today, such statutes cover 49percentt of American children under 15.
Such statutes, which criminalize oral and anal sex, are also called sodomy laws.
The long indictment against Ravi can be seen as a kind of regretful commentary about the absence of such statutes.
He had long detested campaign-spending restrictions, frequently voting to invalidate such statutes as violations of the First Amendment.
Some countries limit such statutes to the misappropriation of goods received by an employee "by virtue of his employment".
Such statutes remain on the books in Massachusetts, Michigan, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Wyoming in addition to Pennsylvania, said Sarah Barringer Gordon, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania who is an expert on blasphemy statutes.
They also criticized prosecutors for using racketeering statutes against Mr. Rich, a use of such statutes that the Justice Department later rejected.
Dink spent his career challenging the intolerance behind such statutes, becoming a champion of minority rights in a country where such causes are punishable.
Mr. Malloy said the marijuana measure simply put Connecticut in line with the laws in neighboring New York and Massachusetts, and would make it one of 13 states with such statutes.
