Weirdest Law/Legal Requirement

What weird laws or legal requirements have you heard of - self-defense related or otherwise?

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The “Duty to Retreat” rates very high with me.

It is appalling to me to think that in many states someone who is perfectly innocent, lawfully present and acting in a lawful manner when threatened with deadly force is required to retreat before they can respond with deadly force.

There are some crazy silly laws that were never taken off of the books such as it being a crime for women to wear dresses that didn’t completely cover their ankles or that women cannot legally be in certain areas in the city after dark are archaic but at leas they made sense at the time.

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It’s possible to be charged with a “Hit-and-Run” and have it hold up in court if you are a victim of someone else purposely hitting your car with their car and YOU leave the scene for basically any reason, safety or otherwise. I learned this the hard way: I didn’t get convicted, but the wording of the law in PA is whack, and if I didn’t plead down, I would have gotten a misdemeanor on my record.

Why does a victim have ANY duty, regarding whether to report or not?!?! This doesn’t happen in sexual assault or rape or theft: it’s the victim’s choice.

And why do some law enforcement officials care more about the letter of the law than the spirit behind the law?

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@WildRose and @iamteeg right with you on both of those!
In MI there’s a “duty to inform immediately” requirement if stopped while carrying. While that itself might not seem a problem, a man in MI was convicted for failure to inform because it took him 40 seconds to tell the officer… :scream:

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As long as you are the first one to call it in you’re probably not going to have any problems.

If you want some entertainment though go to youtube and watch “road rage compilation”.

It’s utterly amazing how many times you see the aggressor ranting and raving about how the other guy started it and it all gets captured on their own dash cam’s or cell phones.

Just like being involved in a self defense shooting, be the first one to call it in and establish that you were the victim. Police are always inclined to support that person as long as the evidence supports their claims even where there is benefit of the doubt.

You’ll pretty well never end up on the wrong side of a hit and run if you A) are truly the innocent party, B) are the first one to phone it in and, C) immediately flag down the first officer you encounter or proceed to the nearest police/sheriff’s station.

Be innocent and be your own best witness.

Fortunately the laws in most states now support all of the above due to the rise in road range fights and shootings as they value human life over property.

Caveat. Never leave the scene if it’s likely a fatality or serious injury accident unless your life is truly in danger.

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Another. In some states Self Defense does not stand to prevent you from being prosecutied even if all the evidence shows you to have acted lawfully.

Self defense is not in those states seen as a defense to prosecution only as a mitigating factor and you can still be found guilty of some form of manslaughter even if your claim of self defense is perfect.

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