# Are there states where something is uniquely illegal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 7, 2021, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-states-where-something-is-uniquely-illegal/948195 "2021-08-07T14:58:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-states-where-something-is-uniquely-illegal/948195/101 "2021-08-09T04:39:22Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Louisiana was the last state to raise their legal drinking age from 18 to 21. Reportedly because they were getting more money from booze sales during the Mardi Gras season than they would get from federal highway funds which were threatened to be withheld unless they raised the age. [The state partially acquiesced in '86 – those 18 to 20 could legally buy booze but drinking said booze became illegal unless with a family member. That changed a decade later.](https://apnews.com/article/8aecf98f78c017e7da1f5cef6444daa6) I don’t know what the current laws are (other than the border being shut down due to covid) but back in the eighties, the drinking age in Ontario was 18 while the drinking age in New York was 21. However, the bars in Ontario had to close at one am while the bars in New York could stay open until four am. The result was that you had people crossing the border in both directions in order to go drinking. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-states-where-something-is-uniquely-illegal/948195/102 "2021-08-09T04:57:11Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > I seem to remember Graham Norton’s TV show discovering that Minnesota has a law specifically forbidding sexual intercourse with a fish. This is an example of what I have been talking about. Here is the relevant MN statute that you may note has not been changed since 1986: > # 609.294 BESTIALITY. > > Whoever carnally knows a dead body or an animal or bird is guilty of bestiality, which is a misdemeanor. If knowingly done in the presence of another the person may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than one year or to payment of a fine of not more than $3,000 or both. So, yes. A fish is an animal, and if a person has sex with a fish, he violates this law. So publishers of these lists can say that it is illegal in MN to have sex with a fish. But it is misleading. There is no law specifying it is illegal to have sex with a fish. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-states-where-something-is-uniquely-illegal/948195/103 "2021-08-09T05:42:18Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > Now that you mention it, I remember once going into a fast-food place in Evanston and trying to get my order to go. I was told they couldn’t give it to me to go, but I could take the tray over to another counter where there was a pile of bags so I could bag it myself. This was in the middle of the day, so it wasn’t a late night thing. > > Evanston had some strange laws. I think the “no drink without food” was tied to the fact that it was the home of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. There was a town in NJ (Green Brook) not that long ago enacted an ordinance that made it illegal to eat in cars. On it’s surface it sounds absurd but it was a town with a major highway running through it and a large number of fast food restaurants along it. The signs for the ordinance were in the parking lots of the fast food places. The purpose was to cut down on the amount of trash that was tossed out of the cars. I think it was repealed. There is a Sonic in the town now so I hope so. That’s kind of the point of Sonic. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-states-where-something-is-uniquely-illegal/948195/104 "2021-08-09T07:32:58Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > In my decades of driving in NYC, I have yet to find the sign that lets you make this mythical legal right turn on red. For whatever it might be worth, this is what the “OK to turn right on red at this light” sign looks like in Germany. [![](https://i.redd.it/z4jnf5859rc41.jpg) ](https://i.redd.it/z4jnf5859rc41.jpg) “Right on red” is still illegal everywhere I’ve been in Europe, except as (very rarely) posted per the above. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-states-where-something-is-uniquely-illegal/948195/105 "2021-08-09T12:10:03Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Wisconsin was the last state to have a “no yellow margarine” law on the books, which was finally repealed in 1967. As per [this article from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel](https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/special-reports/dairy-crisis/2019/08/28/protect-dairy-industry-wisconsin-tried-keep-yellow-margarine-out-oleo-run/1950671001/) (may be behind a paywall): Now that I think about it, the person I recall telling me about it was my (now ex) FIL, who is probably in his 60’s telling me a childhood story, so it happening pre-67 sounds right. Also, from about 30 seconds of looking at wiki, it seems the section of freeway from Milwaukee to Chicago was finished in the late 50s/early 60s and his butter story was usually part of a bigger ‘we had to take the roads\* all the way to Chicago back then’. PS: you can bypass the [jsonline.com](http://jsonline.com) paywall by using a private window. \*For those that grew up in Milwaukee, this is why there are so many run down (but still somehow operating) motels all up and down S 27th st. It was the main thoroughfare through Milwaukee before the interstate system so there was a lot of people/truckers stopping for the night here. Also, when driving past them with an older adult (ie parents) you learn not to mention them unless you want the rest of your car ride to be stories about them going to Chicago as a kid. Stories you’ve already heard a dozen times. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-states-where-something-is-uniquely-illegal/948195/106 "2021-08-09T13:16:28Z")
France has some pretty draconian labour laws which limit the hours that staff can work. The legal length of the working week is 35 hours and the working day may not exceed 10 hours. Furthermore, employees may not work for more than 4.5 hours without a break. The maximum working day may extend to 12 hours under a collective agreement. This causes all kinds of anomalies. ---
**Author:** ![Retzbu\_Tox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/retzbu_tox/32/11829_2.png) [@Retzbu\_Tox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Retzbu_Tox)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-states-where-something-is-uniquely-illegal/948195/107 "2021-08-09T16:48:00Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > I wonder if it’s also illegal to _travel_ on a horse at speed. You horseman-of-the-land/sovereign-horseman types are always looking for the magic loophole… 😁 ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-states-where-something-is-uniquely-illegal/948195/108 "2021-08-09T16:54:34Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > France has some pretty draconian labour laws which limit the hours that staff can work. The legal length of the working week is 35 hours and the working day may not exceed 10 hours. Furthermore, employees may not work for more than 4.5 hours without a break. The maximum working day may extend to 12 hours under a collective agreement. These hardly seem draconian. Are you prohibited from working more than 35 hours or must overtime be paid after 35 hours like it must after 40 hours in the US? The US requires a break with 6 hours of work. And as always states might have stricter requirements. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-states-where-something-is-uniquely-illegal/948195/109 "2021-08-09T17:10:48Z")
I’m not at all sure that has anything to do with a restaurant where staff is present and working but won’t allow people to order anything. Of course, I’m also kind of wondering what it means that the restaurant was “fully open” but wouldn’t allow the poster to order anything “until opening time an hour later”. Unless “fully open” simply means the doors weren’t locked at a time when the restaurant actually _wasn’t_ open for business. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-states-where-something-is-uniquely-illegal/948195/110 "2021-08-09T17:54:00Z")
Is Oregon the only state that requires an actual prescription from a doctor to buy Sudafed? As fat as I know everywhere else, while you have to ask for it at the pharmacy counter and show ID, you can still get it without a prescription. So several years ago when I was traveling to Oregon for work and noticed I was getting a cold, I headed to the nearest pharmacy to get some Sudafed, and was surprised when the pharmacist asked for a prescription. When I didn’t, she was like “Oh, you must be from out of state.” Not having a prescription, I had to make due with the crappy non-pseudoephedrine decongestant until I got home. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-states-where-something-is-uniquely-illegal/948195/111 "2021-08-09T18:38:54Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > Restaurants in Wisconsin still serve butter and margarine is only by request. I’m not sure how this translates into law but I think they are require to have margarine available. Restaurants in NY use to be required to get a permit to serve margarine, and were required to post it. This was to accommodate places that served kosher food – margarine could be served on the baked potato if you ordered steak. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-states-where-something-is-uniquely-illegal/948195/112 "2021-08-09T23:23:05Z")
Thanks. Yes, I rarely drive through any of the other boroughs unless passing through on a highway, so Manhattan’s list being that small makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-states-where-something-is-uniquely-illegal/948195/113 "2021-08-09T23:27:21Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > The US requires a break with 6 hours of work. And as always states might have stricter requirements. Are you sure about that? I’m fairly certain that labor laws regarding breaks are entirely up to the individual state. [Here’s what Wisconsin has to say about breaks:](https://dwd.wisconsin.gov/er/laborstandards/breaks.htm) For workers 18 or over… > Wisconsin law does not require that employers provide brief rest periods, coffee breaks, or meal periods to adult employees, although the Department recommends that employers do so. > > Employers are encouraged, but not required, to provide breaks of at least 30 minutes in duration at times reasonably close to the usual meal period. Such matters are to be determined directly between the employer and the employee. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-states-where-something-is-uniquely-illegal/948195/114 "2021-08-10T00:24:03Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > You can’t sell any new model of any handgun in CA. They must be 20th century or older. That’s not what the law says. That’s pretty much the _result_, but it isn’t _the law._ ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-states-where-something-is-uniquely-illegal/948195/116 "2021-08-10T04:52:29Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > This causes all kinds of anomalies. We have similar (federal) laws in Australia. The only thing that seems like an anomaly to me is that the fly-in-fly-out (FIFO) mines still have 12 hour workdays: I start loosing track and having accidents when I get up towards 12 hours, and I’d hate to be driving a truck or pushing a drill when that happens. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-states-where-something-is-uniquely-illegal/948195/117 "2021-08-10T05:23:35Z")
Yes, you can’t sell any handgun not on the list. Thereby, you can’t sell any handgun that is 21st century. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-states-where-something-is-uniquely-illegal/948195/118 "2021-08-10T09:06:55Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > Are you prohibited from working more than 35 hours or must overtime be paid after 35 hours like it must after 40 hours in the US? The US requires a break with 6 hours of work. And as always states might have stricter requirements. People who work more than 35 hours in a week in France are entitled to extra pay or extra days off, known as RTT days ( _réductions de temps du travail_ ). Generally, people in management or executive positions forego RTT days and certain professions have also opted out but for many people working a 39 or 40 hour week means getting up to an extra fortnight off a year in reclaimed RTT days. However, I am not sure why this meant that the restaurant wouldn’t serve you. Maybe there was no food prepared, or the chef had yet to arrive. Who knows - maybe they just couldn’t be arsed? ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-states-where-something-is-uniquely-illegal/948195/119 "2021-08-10T13:29:11Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > Radar Detectors are illegal in Virginia. AFAIK, no other state has such a law. They’re also illegal in DC. I don’t know why, though. I’ve never, ever seen DC cops set up a traditional speed trap; they rely almost entirely on speed cameras and police vans that they move around the city for that kind of traffic enforcement. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-states-where-something-is-uniquely-illegal/948195/120 "2021-08-10T15:55:19Z")
Regarding self-serve gas pumps, this is old data, but back in the day, before I cleaned up my act and went to college, I worked seven years in a West Texas convenience store that offered pump-it-yourself gas. Not once in all my time there did anyone drive off with the pump still stuck in the tank. I don’t recall any major gas spillage. Never heard of it anywhere else in town. If the ignorant yokels who patronized my store back then couldn’t manage to screw up like this, what is it about modern man today that they cannot perform this action successfully? The only problem I can recall is someone left his car running by the front door to dash into the store real quick, it slipped into neutral or the parking brake was not engaged, and the car ended up rolling backward all the way into one of our pumps, rendering the pump inoperable. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-states-where-something-is-uniquely-illegal/948195/121 "2021-08-10T16:11:24Z")
> [@Retzbu\_Tox](#): > > You horseman-of-the-land/sovereign-horseman types are always looking for the magic loophole… 😁 Does it matter if your surrey has a fringe on the top? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-states-where-something-is-uniquely-illegal/948195.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-states-where-something-is-uniquely-illegal/948195.md?page=7)