In the video titled “Things Okay in NYC But ILLEGAL Around the World!” we delve into the laws in New York City that may surprise you as being illegal in other countries and cities around the world. Joined by an actual attorney, we discuss some common activities that New Yorkers are accustomed to but may be against the law elsewhere.
From concealed weapon laws to turning right on red to the recent Airbnb ban, we explore the legal differences between New York City and other parts of the world. We touch on the lenient laws in favor of tenants in New York when it comes to apartment disputes, the restrictions on pepper spray for self-defense, and the changing marijuana laws in the city.
We also discuss fare evasion, public protests, jaywalking, pet-friendly bars, public performances, and the laws regarding filming and taking photos in public spaces. With insights from the attorney, we learn about the legalities of these activities in New York City and how they compare to other countries.
If you’re a traveler or simply curious about the laws in different parts of the world, this video provides an interesting perspective on what may be considered normal in New York City but could be illegal in other locations globally. Join us as we uncover the legal nuances of different activities and how they vary across borders.
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Today we’re going to be sharing some activities that are okay to do in New York but illegal in other parts of the world some of these may surprise you join alongside Tim Rosen an attorney law professor in New York and we’re going to start with something that’s been really
Controversial lately and just past concealed weapons in New York City can you carry a gun in public gun laws uh in in the United States because we have the Second Amendment are in a lot ways more lenient it’s actually much easier to get a gun in Most states for example in the
UK in France and other countries it’s much more strict up until recently though in New York City to get a concealed carry permit you had to have something called necessity you had to show proper cause for example if you were worked in the Diamond District then you were carrying large amounts of money
With you day and night that would be necessity so that was all struck down in June of 2022 in a US Supreme Court decision which basically said the New York requirement to show necess was unconstitutional that being said you would think oh okay great now I can
Carry a gun around not really New York State through our legislature up in Albany passed a whole slew of regulations to tighten down and to restrict your ability to get a concealed carry there’s a 16-hour training course that you have to take extensive background checks that you still have to
Go through just all sorts of Loops that you’re going to have to go through to get a concealed carry so short answer it’s not that easy and Tim even if you get the concealed carry permit you can barely bring the gun anywhere right basically any private business if you
Walk into any Private Business from a Starbucks to a McDonald’s to a mom and pop shop you have to have express permission from the owner beforehand so they have to explicitly tell you beforehand that you’re allowed to bring a gun inside of that business establishment and on top of that you
Know there are different zones in New York City that are now gunfree zones right like Time Square for instance Rockefeller Center so like for example you could be on 6th Avenue Crossing 47th Street on one side of 6th Avenue it’s legal to carry a handgun with your concealed carry and you’re crossing the
Street now you’re in the Time Square gunfree zone or whatever and you’re basically breaking the law and for anybody with any vigilante dreams Subway also Subway also you’re not allowed to bring it into the subway so if you have a concealed carry permit you can walk on
Some streets gets in your car and that’s really it that’s really it you can’t go into any place of business you can’t go into any restaurant you can’t go into a bar you can’t go on the subway basically some streets if you know which streets you can walk on you better study that
Map very carefully you’re probably just better off not having to jump through all these Loops Tim is someone that grew up in New Jersey turning right on red while driving totally allowed but in New York City a little bit different right yeah quite different in New York City in
New York State it’s the same so if you go out to Nassau County Long Island Upstate New York it’s the same but within the five burrows of New York City you cannot turn right on red it is a traffic infraction you will get a ticket uh unless there are some exceptions if
It’s clearly marked if there’s a sign that clearly says right turn on red is permitted then you’re allowed to but that’s kind of rare you might see that on maybe 10% of intersections if even that and turning left on a red in the UK I believe is illegal and it is illegal
To go right on red in most of Europe so some contrast there’s some interesting new rules about short-term rental bans in New York City that just passed and this has been a major update yeah this is big news this is actually a big change in uh the law in New York City uh
Real estate law uh as of I think last September local law 18 passed and now airbnbs which are so popular all over the world you know everyone goes to an Airbnb now instead of a hotel they pretty much banned in the five buroughs of New York City with a few narrow
Exceptions in order to do that you have to actually be on the premises all right so the owner has to be there and it can only be one or two people at a time so you’re really limiting it a a great deal and this has opened up a huge black
Market for short-term rentals on social media also there’s a lot more airbnbs going on in Long Island on the Jersey side in Jersey City and Hoboken although those towns are beginning to change their laws a bit compared to many world cities like getting an Airbnb in New
York as Tim said is almost impossible with all of these restrictions where you are likely going to have to get an expensive hotel now you come to New York Tim you used to practice real estate law and I think many people around the world would be shocked how lenient the laws
Are in favor of tenants in New York when it comes to apartment disputes in New York City uh it’s the courts are very very prot tenant there’s housing shortage in New York City there’s a lot of homeless people we are just trying to do our best I guess the courts are to
Not have more people on the streets and because of that the courts are very lenient before they throw somebody out literally it could take years I’m not saying months and I’m not exaggerating it could take years to get somebody out if they stop paying rent the other thing
Is that’s really interesting in New York City you have a 30-day rule which means that let’s say you’re a nice guy you let someone crash in your apartment or for a couple of weeks you know he’s down on his Lu once that happens when you hit 30
Days he gets tenant status which means now you can no longer kick him out after 30 days so let’s say you say you try to get him out you call the police you say hey get this guy out of my house the police are going to show up and they’re
Going to say sorry John but this guy is now a tenant take it to landlord tenant court and tell it to a judge so be really careful who you let stay in your house more than 30 days even hotels by the way hotels will be careful with this
Rule so if you’re staying at the Holiday in or the you sayy I want I want to stay for a month they’re going to say well you can stay for 29 days but on the 30th day you need to check out overnight come back again to restart the clock nobody’s
Ever staying on my couch again for over 30 days that’s it like the law has just been set now let’s discuss something that is ilal in many countries including the UK but perfectly legal in New York City with certain restrictions and that’s pepper spray for self-defense uh
A lot of people are concerned for their personal safety they want to carry something so they’ll go to pepper spray you’re not able to buy the pepper spray like on Amazon they won’t ship it to New York City but there are certain places where you can purchase it where it’s uh
Legal to purchase it uh it’s a licensed Pharmacy it’s a police department store there are a few you can go online and find out where you can purchase it legally within New York City to carry for your personal protection but like I said you cannot buy it on Amazon you can
Buy knives and and and machetes on Amazon but not pepper spray Tim you’re a tour guide make these videos we both get tons of questions about the changing marijuana laws in New York City yeah one of the most common questions I get from my tourus is what’s up with that smell
And you know some people love it and some people hate it and the question is well you know is it legal here short answer is yes uh the law has changed recently was first decriminalized and now it is legal uh again you know America we have 50 states so in a lot of
States it’s still illegal you know you go to Texas or Alabama or whatever another state you got to check the laws it might be completely illegal but here in New York City it is legal you can possess it you can uh use it for recreational use you cannot just buy it
From anyone on the street though that’s that’s a misconception all right so if somebody is selling marijuana in Washington Square Park you know in the village or whatever that’s illegal on the street you have to get it from a licensed dispensary and I think there’s
Only like eight or 10 of those in the entire city and what about those smoke shops you see in just about every Avenue which sell weed so yeah that’s a huge problem right now all of these illegal smoke shops have popped up all over the city in every burrow it’s really
Completely illegal what they’re doing and every couple of weeks or months you’ll have the New York City sheriff come down raid the place they’ll confiscate all of the marijuana um and then it’ll pop up again somewhere else and they’ll confiscate it they are cracking down on those but you can light
Up a joint in front of a police officer and they’re not going to do anything not a problem and there are many countries where marijuana is still very illegal and if you think Tim knows the law he is also the best tour guide of Manhattan I
Send everybody to him so if you want a really cool tour of the city about 5 6 hours by boat by foot by Subway this is the man to contact putting his info in the description below as well as his Facebook group Tim this has been such a
Big thing in New York Fair EV asan we did an entire video dedicated to it what is the actual law because it’s almost never enforced yeah uh well short answer it’s against the law uh you have to pay your fair in New York state there are four classes of criminal offenses there
Are felonies which are the most serious things like arson and robbery and things like that misdemeanors which are also serious but a little less so violations and traffic infractions so jumping the Turn Style not paying your fair which is technically Fair evasion that would be classified as a violation it is against
The law technically you could go to jail for up to 15 days although because it’s called a violation you would not have a criminal record after you got out after 15 days it’s a little weird a little crazy a little crazy but the main thing to say is yeah it’s it’s not enforced
That much A lot of people jumping the turn Styles these days you see a lot of people not paying you know back in the day it was enforced much more rigorously and you often found people who had other crimes like they might have a warrant for their arrest for burglary for
Assault for DWI and when they arrest them for fair evasion they run the name they run the fingerprints and they find out that they’re wanted on something else and this is something that is illegal just about every country but it tends to be a little different in many
Countries in Europe for example they’re not going to check your ticket till you’re on the train or in New York it’s simply a Turn Style so depends on the country but it is something that unfortunately is rampant and almost never enforced what about freedom of speech public protest and even something
We’ve seen lately in the city protesters blocking traffic it’s a great question um the First Amendment of the US Constitution guarantees all Americans the right of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly so you have a right to protest you have a right to peacefully assemble freedom of speech
You can stand on a street corner and scream and yell and say what as long as you’re not threatening to harm anyone or violence you can say whatever you want you can criticize the government you can criticize the president the mayor you can mock someone you can insult them
What are some things you can’t do well the Supreme Court has said the city can regulate time Manner and place so if you’re going to have a gigantic protest let’s say on uh fth Avenue at lunchtime and you’re going to have 25,000 people there that’s going to interfere withum
Traffic that’s going to be dangerous because they have to make sure that ambulances fire engines and police cars can get through so they can make you have a permit for that they can regulate the time the manner the place they can’t regulate the content of your speech you
Can say whatever you want also interestingly if you use amplification if you want to use a bullhorn if you want to uh blast uh some sort of sound amplification you actually do need a permit for that and what about the people that were recently blocking I believe the road to the Brooklyn Bridge
We’ve heard a couple reports about that yeah so that’s completely illegal um it it’s a form of Civil Disobedience but you can’t do that uh first of all it’s dangerous if you block the roads if an ambulance or a fire truck needs to get through the police need to get through
That is actually dangerous so completely illegal you can be arrested for blocking streets if you go to other countries like you know one of the biggest countries in the world is China uh you cannot protest in public if you go to tenanan square and you say anything
Against the president of China if you say anything bad about the Chinese Communist party or the Govern government of China uh you will be locked up and you know if you’re an American you better hope the American Embassy comes down and tries to get you out of there
Uh otherwise you’re going to be in a Chinese prison for a long time you’re wondering what’s going on behind us it is legal to take pictures on the courthouse steps after you get married and a lot of people get Civ married in New York every single day beautiful
Location Tim I feel like jaywalking is one of those ingrained parts of being a New Yorker people do it without even thinking about it and yet many tourists I see a little bit afraid to do it but what’s the actual law behind it yeah so you’re right jay walking uh you know as
A native New Yorker myself it’s kind of in our DNA traffic signals are just a suggestion for us the one way you know a New Yorker is they don’t follow the traffic signals they jwalk uh but what’s the law the law is technically it is illegal um you’re breaking the law if
You jwalk it is almost never enforced in fact back in the early 2000s um they went through a phase where they said okay we’re going to try to enforce this a little bit and actually true story my mom of all people was crossing Queen’s Boulevard which is like this huge giant
Boulevard very wide and she got a ticket for jaywalking and uh she fought it she went to the judge she said she felt afraid to stand on these little traffic islands in the middle of the boulevard she was just trying to get across to the other side and the judge I guess had
Some sympathy and he just dismissed it and uh not long after that they they kind of just gave up on the jaywalking Crackdown I I have I have literally never seen it en forc other than that time 20 years ago that being said this video is for entertainment purposes only
If you get a jaywalking ticket do not blame us if you jaywalk in front of a cop if he’s having a bad day who knows what he’ll do something very common in New York is seeing dogs at bars pet friendly bars but it’s not that way all
Over the world yeah definitely not all over the world uh in a lot of countries you would not see that here in New York City legally it it really is up to the owner of the bar unless it’s a service dog so there’s a federal law called the
Ada the Americans with Disabilities Act if you have a registered service dog they they would have to let it in um but if it’s not a registered service dog it’s really up to the owner of the establishment and if they want to have hey guys it’s a pet friendly bar bring
The dog down uh during a happy hour or whatever they could do that I was reading that in some Baltic countries dogs are not allowed inside restaurants only outside on the patio so country by country thing when you visit New York you walk through Time Square you may see
Public performers on the subway you may see some kids dancing what is legal and what is illegal with that that’s a great question um it’s perfectly legal to assemble peacefully to stand on the street and hand out pamphlets about whatever you believe in or to sing a
Song If you just wanted to start singing a song right now you could do that if you gather in a in a public place and you’re interfering with pedestrian flow for example you have a a dance group in Times Square and everybody’s stopping to watch you um that might be an issue
Where you could get ticketed if you are interfering with the flow of pedestrian traffic also with the Subways the Subways although it’s a public place when you go on the subway you are entering a quazi private environment in the sense that the MTA the Metropolitan Transit Authority they have rules and by
Going into the subway you are accepting those rules and those rules say you cannot have amplification devices on the subway without their permission so you know you have a lot of people that do it without their permission technically it’s it’s breaking the law yeah I just saw today people were playing guitars
And performing on my subway ride here so extremely common but like Fair evasion not really enforced as we speak we are recording in a public place what are the laws about that in New York photos video in public yeah good question um there’s no right to privacy in New York state
When you’re on a public street so if you’re walking on a public Street anyone can take your photograph they don’t need your permission they can take a video of you they don’t need your permission they can’t harass you they can’t stalk you and follow you around but if they just
Feel like taking your picture they can do that it’s a free country it’s a public Street you don’t have what the law calls an expectation of privacy when you’re on a public Street and kind of a crazy story regarding that I’m a huge Yankee fan and back in 2009 the last
Time the Yankees won the World Series me and some friends went to Time Square and we were actually out in the middle of Time Square when the Yankees won the final uh game and we all went crazy czy and my friend picked me up on his
Shoulders and a couple of weeks later my friend calls me up he’s like you got to get a copy of Sports Illustrated and I said why he’s like well you’re in it and I was like what are you talking about what do you mean well that’s yours truly
In the middle of Time Square uh celebrating um on my friend’s shoulders when the Yankees won the World Series in 2009 two-page spread in Sports Illustrated my claim to fame as a Yankee fan and they didn’t have to ask my permission and so completely legal even though they made money selling
Completely legal they didn’t have to get any permission from me I’m not getting any residuals from this or anything like that so yeah you never know who’s going to take your picture in Time Square now there are many countries where you can’t film in public I’ll even give you an
Example in Cuba if you film a government building I heard about someone who flew a drone in Cuba next to a government building was thrown in jail for that so in New York feel free to film and take photos in public as much as you want just don’t harass people now that you
Know what’s legal in New York and illegal elsewhere in this video we’re going to share some unspoken rules that New Yorkers know never to break really interesting stuff watch this next
Video “Things Okay in NYC But ILLEGAL Around The World!” was uploaded on 03/21/2024. Watch all the latest Videos by Here Be Barr on Gretopia