Great moments in Arizona legislation.

Hunting camels is prohibited.

There is a possible 25 years in prison for cutting down a cactus.

When being attacked by a criminal or burglar, you may only protect yourself with the same weapon that the other person posseses.

It is illegal for men and women over the age of 18 to have less than one missing tooth visible when smiling.

Cards may not be played in the street with a Native American.

Any misdemeanor committed while wearing a red mask is considered a felony (This goes back in the days of the Wild West).

Donkeys cannot sleep in bathtubs.

It is unlawful to refuse a person a glass of water.

In Arizona it is illegal to take naked photographs before noon on Sunday.

In 1985, an Arizona legislator proposed that each candidate for the legislature take a reading and an I.Q. test three months before the election. The scores would have been posted on the ballot, had the bill passed. But a majority of legislators, for whatever reason, voted it down.

Glendale: Cars may not be driven in reverse.

Hayden: If you bother the cottontails or bullfrogs, you will be fined.

Maricopa County: No more than six girls may live in any house.

Mesa: It is illegal to smoke cigarettes within 15 feet of a public place unless you have a Class 12 liqueur license.

Mohave County: A decree declares that anyone caught stealing soap must wash himself with it until it is all used up.

Nogales: An ordinance prohibits the wearing of suspenders.

Prescott: No one is permitted to ride their horse up the stairs of the county court house.

Tucson: Women may not wear pants.

There is a possible 25 years in prison for cutting down a cactus.

No doubt the tea party wingnuts would score in single digits.

birthday. What a celebration that was!

Ah, those were the days! :hi:

Pisses me off. Damned if you don't, damned if you do.

The one about shooting camels makes a good deal of sense. It was not the camels' fault they were left to wander the desert after the US Cavalry abandoned THAT little experiment.

Arizona is a desert state. Especially in sparsely populated areas, it is reasonably foreseeable that if a person asks you for water (assuming you have some) and you refuse, that person may become gravely dehydrated and die. There's a legitimate public policy concern there to mandate that you provide a supply of water if someone is thirsty and asks you for a glass of it.

Even so, people still die of dehydration there, but without such a law, the problem may well be worse.

I don't like the catch-22 that an Arizonan is in when someone who entered the US illegally happens to be the one asking for the water, however. A person is a person regardless of immigration status, and should be treated as such.