Have you ever caught yourself about to do something while second guessing if it is legal or not? There are so many things that we may think are against the law, but in reality, they’re perfectly legal.
While it may vary depending on your state, here are some of the most common things people think they’ll get in trouble for but won’t.
1. Filming People in Public
You may come off as peculiar if you are walking around filming people, but this is legal as long as you are in a public area. Think about it: if it were illegal, an entire profession worldwide would die off: following celebrities and taking pictures of them.
2. Owning Exotic Animals
While it may not be the safest decision to acquire one of these exotic animals, many are legal. For example, in Massachusetts, you are allowed to go out and purchase a real-life bear.
Most bears can reach up to 600 pounds, which would probably not feel good lying on top of you. If you want to own a giraffe, though, Florida does not prohibit a resident from owning one, so go for it!
3. Foods With Arsenic
The World Health Organization has arsenic listed in its top 10 chemicals that cause a significant concern to your health. The FDA stated that having arsenic in your diet regularly may increase your chances of developing things like heart disease, lung cancer, and even skin cancer. While the European Union banned arsenic, the U.S. has yet to put any ban on it.
4. Taking Free Samples
Don’t be that person taking all of the free samples at the grocery store — although you could jump between a few different free sample stations and keep getting them! While this is highly frowned upon, it is not illegal, even though the store could throw you out.
5. Bringing Food Into Another Restaurant
Have you ever brought a McDonald’s meal into a fine dining restaurant? While you will probably get kicked out for stinking up the place with fast food, this is not an illegal activity, just highly looked down on, and the restaurant can remove you at their convenience.
6. Being Barefoot
Unless you are in an area where you could be barefoot a lot, such as the beach, most stores will prohibit anybody who is barefoot from entering their store; this doesn’t make being barefoot illegal, however. It just restricts where you can be. You could walk around in public with no shoes; you just have a high chance of injury, considering your feet have no protection.
7. Counting Cards
While it is a complicated skill to learn, counting cards is not illegal. That being said, once a casino catches up with you, they will monitor to be sure you’re counting cards, and if they find that you are, they are allowed to remove you or even ban you from the casino.
8. Sitting in the Bed of a Truck
Staying seated in the bed of a pickup truck is 100% legal in 20 states. The other 30 states have a minimum age restriction varying from 16 to 19. So, while there is no blanket law for this, you may still receive violations for more minor laws you may not know.
9. Using a Radar Detector
Like police officers use to track our speeds, citizens are 100% allowed to own one for themselves. While this may run you a reasonably high price tag, radar detectors can be very helpful to know your exact speed, along with the flow of traffic around you.
10. Taking Napkins
Have you ever been in a fast food restaurant and noticed the large pile of napkins on the table or next to the fountain drinks? It is entirely legal to take as many as you want; just take at your own risk, or you may be subject to getting kicked out.
11. Sleeping in Your Car
We have all felt drowsy while driving or after a night out and just wanted to kick back and fall asleep in our car, but many people were afraid to do so, thinking this was illegal. Most of the time, sleeping in your car is only prohibited if you are parked illegally or on private property.
12. Recording a Conversation
Many states fall under what is called a “one-party consent state,” where you could legally record a conversation without the other person’s knowledge or consent. For the most part, many states will allow this, with very few having restrictions surrounding it.
13. Marrying A Step-Sibling
While this is frowned upon within society, no law would prohibit you from marrying your step-brother or step-sister. This may seem completely taboo, but you can marry them if you’d like. Those around you may just look at you a bit weird.
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Source: Reader’s Digest.
