Day 27: Legal myths and legends Pt. 1

Well ladies and gentlemen I have decided to do something fun for the next couple of days. I am going to write about legal myths and legends. These are things like crazy laws throughout the US or some other interesting myths created by the culture. Now this started off as a response to a list of crazy Utah laws and just some thoughts about weird legal things in general. So let's start with the karate means you must register your hands and feet as lethal weapons myth for today. Tomorrow, or today for me I guess, I will do a different post discussing other crazy laws I have heard about. Now for the registered weapons.


The short answer is: no a karate or martial arts master does not have to register his hands as lethal weapons. Now we have always heard this myth. It's something perpetrated throughout Hollywood. See e.g.,The Stuff, Larco Productions (1985). Further, I think the mythos surrounding martial arts (east Asian especially) makes the culture believe that of course this man has training, so of course he should be deadly in fisticuffs. I mean just look at what Bruce Lee could do. If he could do all of that he is of course deadly. Shouldn't people know? Which, in some ways, makes sense, until you think about it. No seriously really consider it. Bruce Lee and other martial artists are dangerous because of training and strength. So should any and every strong person register their hands and feet as lethal weapons? Or what about a 16 year-old kid that kills a soccer referee via a single punch? Shouldn't he have registered his hands as lethal weapons? The answer should be clear. It should be a no, because that's stupid. Let's extend this proposition to other items. Should I register my kitchen knives as deadly weapons? No, even though they kill far more people than fists. If we were to register fists as weapons then why not register: baseball bats, golf clubs, lawn mowers, cars, rocks, 2x4s, shovels, axes, metal wire, bleach, and any other number of potentially murdery things. That makes no sense whatsoever. However, more compelling than that is the fact that courts when considering whether or not hands and feet are dangerous look not at the persons martial artistry but at their intent. See People v. Saleh, 45 P.3d 1272, 1275 (Colo. 2002). In short, it's a myth. Hands need not be registered weapons. Also, intent is what matters, not necessarily skill. To close this off watch this exchange from Batman Begins.
For those that can't watch this clip the important part goes as follows:

WAYNE

That man had a gun.

DUCARD

Would that stop you?

WAYNE

I've had training

DUCARD

The training is nothing. The will is everything. The will to act.

*I apologize for the fonts they seem to not want to change in the actual blog. But for some reason are uniform in the draft.