I'm sure by now we've all heard of people claiming sovereign citizenship, acting like laws don't apply to them because of some perceived "loopholes" they think they've found. One man found out the hard way, in a now-viral video, that the things he learned on the internet aren't applicable in a court of law.

Watch Below

 

@interestingclipstok Watch Judge Anzalone put a stop to Sovereign Citizen nonsense in her courtroom. She doesn’t mess around! #court#judge#fyp♬ original sound - Interesting
This man thought he could represent himself and get out scot-free from whatever charges he was up against by declaring himself a sovereign citizen. Judge Anzalone shut him down pretty quickly by letting him know that none of what he was bringing up was actually valid.

The Movement And Montana

The sovereign citizen's movement dates back to the 1970s but really started to gain traction a couple of years ago. Followers of this movement read Reddit posts or Wikipedia pages claiming they can work around laws by using specific jargon and thus shouldn't ever have to worry about things like taxes and driver's licenses.

A radical group of followers associated with the sovereign citizen movement were the Montana Freemen. This group gained national recognition in the 1990s.

Not Just Us

This idea of sovereignty is not exclusive to the United States, the quirky video below from Australia explains a lot of the problems with the concept.

It makes me wonder how the people who subscribe to this ideology feel when they find out that they still owe taxes or can go to jail for their actions. Funny enough, I actually read a comment that claimed someone they knew had refused to file taxes...and all along they would have been receiving a refund (I wish. By coincidence, it's tax day, goodbye money, it was nice knowing you.)

6 Common Montana Laws I’m Sure You Break on a Daily Basis

I'll fess up to breaking one of these laws on a daily basis, how about you?

Gallery Credit: Rik Mikals