10 Things you thought were illegal, but aren't!
Hey Thoughty2 here. A lot of things that you would naturally assume are against the law, aren't in many parts of the world. There are some really strange, and often disturbing things that you can legally get away with. First up is cannibalism. Yes you heard that right, in most countries around the world, including the United States and most of Europe, there are no outright laws against the consumption of human flesh. In most cases cannibals are charged with murder. However if someone willingly gives you permission to hack off a piece of their flesh and eat it, you're strangely not doing anything illegal. Have you ever wanted to own a tiger? Well you're in luck, it's illegal to own a tiger in the UK under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act. But in Canada and several US states it's completely fine in the eyes of the law to go online and buy a tiger then bring it home, which is easier than you may think. In case you were wondering a baby bengal tiger will cost you around $1,000. In 14 US states it's legal to own a tiger, however you are required to register for a permit to own large cats. However in 9 states there are no laws against it whatsoever, you can just go ahead and buy one, despite the significant risks they can pose to the public. In fact there are currently 12,000 privately owned pet tigers in America, and that excludes the ones kept in zoos. Next up is radar detectors. These nifty little boxes sit on your car's dashboard and will alert you if your speed is being monitored by the police using a radar gun, so you can slow down. It's obvious to see why many people think they're illegal, since they allow you to thwart the cop's law enforcement methods. But surprisingly, they're not. At least not in most countries. They're completely legal in most of of Australia, some areas of Canada, all of Russia, all of the United Kingdom and all of the United States except from Washington DC and Virginia. However don't get radar detectors mixed up with radar jammers, those are devices that jam police radar signals, preventing them from working full stop, and these are very much illegal, using one will land you with a $1,000 fine and one year behind bars. On the subject of driving. Contrary to popular belief it's completely legal to drive barefoot. That's right you can leave your shoes at home and legally drive a car in most countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada and the US. Although driving barefoot isn't as safe as wearing shoes, so a lot of traffic enforcement officers will try to tell you off for it anyway, despite it being legal. We all know that breaking and entering is illegal. So you would be forgiven if you thought that owning and using lock picks is illegal. But turns out, it's one hundred percent legal. In most countries it's completely legal to own and use lock picks, as long as you're not using them to trespass on other people's private property. Most countries however, do have a law against going equipped for theft, that means if a police officer pulls you over at 3am and you have a balaclava and a set of lock picks in your car, that qualifies as going equipped for theft and you're probably going down the nick. If that surprises you, how about this: In America it's also legal to own a flamethrower. In most countries, these fossil-fuel-burning weapons of destruction are outright banned. In the UK for example you will receive 5 years in prison if you're simply caught with a flamethrower in your possession. But in the United States there is no federal law against the possession and use of a flamethrower, regardless of how powerful it is. It's not just a deadly weapon though, in certain states in the south of the United States and in some south American countries. flamethrowers are used to fend off deadly attacks on humans from Africanised Honey Bees, otherwise known as killer bees. Yes you can legally own a flamethrower, but that's not the only deadly weapon you can legally own. How about a tank? Yes, in most countries you can legally own a tank. However don't get too excited, you can't go all grand theft auto on innocent civilians. The law requires the tank's cannon to be deactivated. If you replace the steel tracks with rubber tracks and obtain a certain permit you can also legally drive your brand new tank on the road. Tanks are also surprisingly affordable. You can pickup an ex-soviet tank for around $40,000. Corporal punishment in schools was outlawed in the United Kingdom in 1987 and in Australia in 1985. However, to many people's surprise corporal punishment is still completely legal in 19 states in America. 19 states including Texas, Alabama, Florida and Kentucky still allow a teacher or principal to punish public school students by hitting them repeatedly. In practice corporal punishment is becoming increasingly less common in the United States, however a report in 2011 showed that one Texas school administered corporal punishment to over 120 different kids in that year alone. The most common form of corporal punishment in the US is paddling, where a student is hit multiple times on their buttocks or thighs with a wooden paddle, however in many such schools paddles are made from shaved down baseball bats. We've all seen the films and TV shows where clever criminals count cards during casino blackjack games to cheat the house and net large wins, before being beat up and thrown out by the casino's security team. Television therefore has made it quite obvious that card counting is illegal. Or is it? Well, turns out it isn't, card counting is completely legal in the majority of countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States. Card counting is a blackjack technique where players count the cards that have already been played to try and predict what the dealer's next hand is likely to be. It's widely considered as cheating and most casinos will actively try to deter players from counting cards by harassing players, changing the percentage of cards in the deck or using extremely high speed dealers. Casinos are completely within their rights to ban you for this, but it's certainly not illegal. And finally, it's not just card counting that films and TV has led us to believe is against the law. As a result of it happening constantly on TV most people believe that an undercover police officer is required by law to identify themselves when asked. But it's simply not true. A police officer is legally allowed to lie about their status and basically anything else they like whilst they are undercover. They are even allowed to fabricate facts and stories to get information. Police do however have to identify themselves to you if they're in uniform or taking legal action against you.
