Are shoe-fitting X-ray machines still illegal in Nevada?

Yes. NRS 202.245, enacted in 1960, prohibits operating or maintaining any shoe-fitting device that uses "fluoroscopic, X-ray or radiation principles." It has never been repealed, so the ban is current law — a misdemeanor — even though the machines themselves vanished from stores generations ago.

Is the Nevada shoe X-ray law NRS 202.248?

No — that's a widely copied error. The shoe-fluoroscope ban is NRS 202.245. NRS 202.248 is a completely different statute making unlicensed liquid silicone injections a category D felony. Most weird-law listicles cite the wrong section because they copy each other instead of checking the Nevada Revised Statutes.

Why did states ban shoe-fitting fluoroscopes?

The machines were a marketing gimmick that exposed customers — especially children — to real radiation doses just to show foot bones inside a shoe. As radiation hazards became understood in the 1950s, most states banned them between 1957 and 1970. Nevada enacted its ban in 1960.

ON THE BOOKS

It's Illegal to X-Ray Your Feet at a Shoe Store in Nevada

Statewide🤠 Relics on the BooksNRS 202.245

Nevada still bans the shoe-store X-ray machines of the 1950s — and nearly every listicle that mentions this law cites the wrong statute. The real section is NRS 202.245; 202.248 is about something else entirely.

From the 1920s through the 1950s, walking into a shoe store often meant stepping onto a fluoroscope — a cabinet-sized X-ray machine that let you watch your own foot bones wiggle inside a new pair of oxfords. It was pure marketing theater, and it delivered real radiation doses, often to children who begged to look at their glowing skeletons again and again. As the dangers of radiation became understood, states began banning the machines, with most acting between 1957 and 1970.

Nevada's turn came in 1960, and the statute could not be plainer: "A person shall not operate or maintain any shoe-fitting device or shoe-fitting machine which uses fluoroscopic, X-ray or radiation principles." Violation is a misdemeanor. The Legislature touched the section again in 1985 but never repealed it, so the ban remains live law in 2026 — protecting Nevadans from a machine nobody has seen in a store for generations.

Here's the fact-check bonus: the weird-laws listicles that repeat this one almost universally cite it as NRS 202.248. That's wrong. NRS 202.248 is Nevada's liquid-silicone-injection felony. The shoe-fluoroscope ban is NRS 202.245 — one section over. The internet copied one bad citation for years without anyone opening the actual statute book. We did.

What the Law Actually Says

NRS 202.245

Read the official statute

Current Penalty

Misdemeanor — up to 6 months in jail and a $1,000 fine. No modern prosecutions exist because the machines vanished decades ago.

Has Anyone Actually Been Cited?

No modern prosecutions found. The machines disappeared decades ago, leaving the statute a live but purely theoretical crime.

The Attorney's Take

Thomas Boley, Las Vegas Criminal Defense Attorney

“This entry is really about citations. Every listicle repeating this law points to NRS 202.248 — the wrong section. One digit off, completely different crime. In my practice, the exact statute and subsection you're charged under controls everything: the penalty range, the defenses, whether a record can be sealed. If the internet can't get a shoe-store X-ray law right, don't let it be your source on anything that actually matters.”

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

NRS 202.245 — shoe-fitting devices (NRS Chapter 202 full text)

Verified against the primary source: 2026-07-02