These are OLD, OLD laws that probably that had some reason behind them that makes no sense today. But nobody ever bothered to take them off the books.

Is this legal?

Why not? Well, suppose you’re on the council in a town that has an ordinance that makes it illegal to blow your nose in public. If you stood up and proclaimed that it’s high time to do away such an arcane law, the voters would toss you out of office for wasting time on frivolous matters.

And since a lot of these old laws have to do with sex, religious beliefs, and cuddly animals, some interest group would probably take offense and make you sorry you opened your mouth. So laws like one in Indiana that makes it illegal for monkeys to smoke stay on the books because people are simply too embarrassed to bring them up.