Burger King Sword Fight: Is it Illegal to Duel in Kentucky?

        Per the Village Voice Empire: Police say that Lucas French, a manager at Burger King in rural Minnesota, got into a drunken sword fight with a co-worker at the co-worker’s home.  In addition, Police say that the medieval duel occurred in front of French’s 10 year old child.  A website called “mugshotjunkie.com” also say that French hit his 10 year old with the sword, cutting the child, after the kid told his father that he was scared to ride his bike home in the dark. 

            I don’t know much about the Village Voice Empire or mugshotjunkie, but I worked at McDonald’s part time for a couple of years in high school.  Thus, I am an expert in conflict resolution in the fast food workplace.  Dueling with medieval weaponry is the third step in fast food workplace conflict resolution, so this story makes a lot of sense to me.  It gets stressful during the dinner rush, and you need to have a mechanism in place to solve problems amongst co-workers.  And some people just like to party.  Obviously, I have no idea whether the allegations against Mr. French are true or false.  So today, we’re just going to talk about the answer to one question: In Kentucky, is it legal to have a duel?

            This week’s blog is going to be kind of short.  The answer is “No.”  KRS 437.030 governs challenges to duel, and it reads:  Any person who, in this state, challenges another to fight with any deadly weapon, in or out of this state, and any person who accepts the challenge, shall be fined five hundred dollars ($500) and imprisoned for not less than six (6) nor more than twelve (12) months. Any person who knowingly carries or delivers such a challenge in this state, or consents in this state to be a second to either party shall be fined one hundred dollars ($100) and imprisoned for thirty (30) days.

            So no, you can’t challenge anyone to, or accept a challenge to duel in Kentucky.  In fact, it is even illegal to deliver a challenge for someone else.  So there you have it.  Short and sweet.


Questions answered in this blog post: Is it legal to duel in Kentucky; how do I find a good Louisville homicide lawyer; can I challenge someone to a duel in Kentucky; what is the penalty for dueling in Kentucky; is it legal to duel?