Isn't legality off-topic?

Question

Why is this question about legality still open? Krav Maga, is it 100% legal for defense?

The on-topic help says

Questions that should not be asked on Martial Arts include:

...

• Legalities of martial arts (off-topic)

My reading is this is definitely off-topic now. Unless someone voices a defense of keeping it open, I will close.

It looks like legality was declared off-topic in 2014, after the question was asked, and there was a vote to close in 2017 that did not result in closure.

Answer 1

Great question! (and of course I have a vested interest in this particular one :)

I'd be in favor of John's historical lock suggestion. I think it's important to keep this question because:

• the currently marked answer does manage to avoid talking about legal specifics
• it is inherently answerable
• due to mystique and misinformation many other random visitors are likely to have the same (or similar) questions (so it is a useful reference question)

With regards to the Legalities of martial arts off topic option I think it is useful to break it down a bit:

• we (I) are not lawyers so are not necessarily qualified to talk about legal specifics
• laws are different everywhere, this can lead to very localized answers
• laws are interpreted, which can lead to arguments
• like medicine, law is a privileged and specialist topic

so while we should try and avoid questions about legal specifics, I feel there is no reason why we can't still ask questions about legalities in general, which is what this question does.

Of course the simple answer for the linked question would have been "Well, duh, yes...", but I think it's important that we have the flexibility to expound on these where necessary, even if we come at it from a philosophical view point.