Sagging Pants? Six Months And/Or $500 Fine

[The Serbian Empire]

Florida, why you gotta be like this?

I blame the bath salts. *nods sagely* Or the hanging chads.

It's the Chads. They keep hanging right into the sagging pants.

[Reploid Productions]

I blame the bath salts. *nods sagely* Or the hanging chads.

It's the Chads. They keep hanging right into the sagging pants.

Well no wonder Florida ballots that year were so hard to cipher if people were trying to vote with their junk!

[Torisakia]

I believe Alabama was trying to pass a similar law as well.

To be honest, I really don't like to be out somewhere and have to see anyone of any race with their pants down to their kneecaps. I would say that falls under public indecency, but I don't think it warrants a huge fine and/or jail time.

[The Serbian Empire]

It's the Chads. They keep hanging right into the sagging pants.

Well no wonder Florida ballots that year were so hard to cipher if people were trying to vote with their junk!

Do your Chads hang low?
Do they wobble to and fro?
Can you tie them in a knot?
Can you tie them in a bow?

[Cannot think of a name]

Are they going to ban bell bottoms, too?

[Hyfling]

I think sagging looks ridiculous, but, like others have said: is this really Florida's biggest issue?

PS: Can we ban Crocs too?

[Margno]

Wait, I thought we already banned everything the mainstream culture considered offensive a couple threads ago. How'd this slip through the cracks?

[Fireye]

Wait, I thought we already banned everything the mainstream culture considered offensive a couple threads ago. How'd this slip through the cracks?

The left pulling the racism card.

[The 54th Squadron]

I'd rather have it be a crime than look like a complete douchefuck.

[Cannot think of a name]

I'd rather have it be a crime than look like a complete douchefuck.

Wait...are you saying you need this law in order to keep your pants from sagging?

[The 54th Squadron]

I'd rather have it be a crime than look like a complete douchefuck.

Wait...are you saying you need this law in order to keep your pants from sagging?

Yes.

[Blakk Metal]

Wait, I thought we already banned everything the mainstream culture considered offensive a couple threads ago. How'd this slip through the cracks?

The left pulling the racism card.

But that baggy pants were ebil cultural appropriation!

[Reploid Productions]

Wait...are you saying you need this law in order to keep your pants from sagging?

Yes.

I would think one of these would be far superior at resolving the issue of saggy pants. Cheaper than a law, too.

[Yumyumsuppertime]

Wait, I thought we already banned everything the mainstream culture considered offensive a couple threads ago. How'd this slip through the cracks?

The left pulling the racism card.

There's also the fact that as silly as it looks, it's actually a harmless method of expression, and the law likely doesn't need to be involved. But I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your cheap shot. Please do continue.

[Torisakia]

Wait...are you saying you need this law in order to keep your pants from sagging?

Yes.

And I assume that having this law will completely stop people from sagging? Just like how a law against murdering someone stops murderers completely?

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

Ah, Florida. You make me facepalm so much... I hate guys wearing saggy pants but, jail time or a fine because of it? Get serious.

[Margno]

The left pulling the racism card.

There's also the fact that as silly as it looks, it's actually a harmless method of expression, and the law likely doesn't need to be involved. But I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your cheap shot. Please do continue.

... #Poe'sLaw

[Andarro]

Florida, a land currently known for face-eating bath salt-abusing cannibals, naked women vandalizing McDonald's, and meth labs being created in the middle of WalMart, has decided to take decisive action against the greatest plague facing their fair state.

Pants on the ground? You could spend six months in jail.

Ocala, a town in central Florida, approved an ordinance this week that tightens the belt for anyone on city-owned property such as sidewalks, parks and pools. Violators could be forced to pay $500 or face jailtime of six months.

“We have the right to say you have to be clothed in public, fashion statement or not,” City Attorney Patrick Gilligan told the Ocala Star Banner.

Enforcing the law would be similar to how officers enforce noise complaints, Gilligan said. If the behavior persists after multiple warnings, that person can face arrest.

Critics of the law – including some local chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union – have pointed to the potential for racial profiling. But Ocala Council member Mary Rich, who wrote the ordinance, said targeting specific groups wasn’t her intention.

“It doesn’t matter what color they are,” Rich said. “They all wear their pants down.”

Cities across the country – including New Orleans, Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, Miami and Jacksonville, Fla. – have taken steps to crack down on the baggy pants problem.

Wildwood, a family-friendly town known for its boardwalk on the Jersey shore, banned sagging pants and revealing clothing last summer after complaints from tourists. Fines started at $25 but could add up to $200 as well 40 hours of community service.

“I’m not trying to be the fashion police, but personally I find it offensive when a guy’s butt is hanging out,” Wildwood mayor Ernest Troiana said then.

Enforcement of the law has faced challenges in courts. A Florida judge struck down an ordinance in another city in 2008 after a 17-year-old boy spent the night in jail for exposing several inches of his underwear exposed. This week, a Pennsylvania judge dismissed a contempt of court citation against an 18-year-old who was arrested under the policy.

The city attorney in Ocala said the law would not be tough to enforce.

If the individual won’t comply? Police officers will take out their phones to snap photo proof for the judge.

Now, don't get me wrong: I'm no fan of the look, and cities have the right to enforce decency standards within their communities to a reasonable degree. However, this just seems draconian. It's not like any skin is being shown, and it's a look that is already slowly dying out on its own. And, yes, they say that there's no racial profiling involved, but considering that this look is more popular in the black community (though not limited to it), guess who will be disproportionately affected by the rule? More black men in the prison system, and over nonsense.

Does this strike anyone else as being particularly...well, batshit insane?

Batshit insane is the best description I've heard of Flori-DUH thus far, very well said sir.

This would be the same state that had thousands of people botch their ballots during a presidential election, and to be fair every person had 4 chances to get the thing right...all they had to do was say "oh shit I messed up, please give me a new ballot" and you were allowed to do that 4 times. At least in those counties that people felt they were too good to use a pencil to color in a damn circle, unlike the county I live in where the pencil worked just fine. This county had 0 errors.

For a state that can't vote right, this does not surprise me.

[Pandeeria]

Finally, Florida is liberated.

[Gauthier]

Are they going to ban bell bottoms, too?

No, because that would mean they'd have to arrest white people.

[Blakk Metal]

Are they going to ban bell bottoms, too?

Bell bottoms and baggy pants aren't comparable.

[Yumyumsuppertime]

There's also the fact that as silly as it looks, it's actually a harmless method of expression, and the law likely doesn't need to be involved. But I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your cheap shot. Please do continue.

... #Poe'sLaw

Right, didn't look at who I was responding to. My bad.

[Yumyumsuppertime]

Are they going to ban bell bottoms, too?

Bell bottoms and baggy pants aren't comparable.

How so? Both are fashion choices that look incredibly silly to most people. Why is one more acceptable than the other?

[Margno]

... #Poe'sLaw

Right, didn't look at who I was responding to. My bad.

All good.

[Gauthier]

Bell bottoms and baggy pants aren't comparable.

How so? Both are fashion choices that look incredibly silly to most people. Why is one more acceptable than the other?

Because of overall skintone association, duh.