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I'm looking to see if i can find the root of the myth that martial artists at some point have to register their hands as deadly weapons, and try to come to a logical conclusion of why people seem to be stupid enough to believe it.

Reasons the Myth is complete BS-
1. If your hands were registered as deadly weapons, or any sort of weapon (like theres any other) then you wouldn't be allowed to enter any government building(court house, town hall, police station, etc.) or any air port, or any other establishment that doesn't allow weapons on their premises.
2. Last time i checked, a weapon was an object, and body parts that are currently functional and attached to your body limbs, not counted as independent objects.
3. It's not the hands that are dangerous, it's the knowledge, therefore it's not your hands you would have to register, it's your mind. (your hands will be more or less the exact same as everyone else's, maybe bigger, smaller, rougher, smoother...less fingers? But in the end they'll still look the same)

ok, now then any one have any ideas why people can't come up with these same simply logical points when they hear that BS? Or how this whole thing got started?

A Black Belt Must Register Himself as a Deadly Weapon

This is one of the oldest American martial arts legends, and there’s absolutely no basis for it. First, the U.S. government doesn’t regulate the martial arts, which means there’s no process to identify people practicing the fighting arts and no governmental method by which practitioners can be evaluated. Such a feat of regulation would cost millions, if not billions, of dollars and be a violation of civil rights. Actually, there’s not a country on earth where martial artists are required to register themselves as weapons, deadly or otherwise.

This myth has its roots in three different aspects of mid-20th-century history. In post-World War II Japan, the traditional arts were banned, and records were kept of experienced practitioners. It lasted only a few years and hasn’t been repeated. It never spread beyond the borders of Japan.

Another root is entrenched in the regulation of the activities of U.S. servicemen overseas. Occasionally, following World War II and even into the 1960s, military personnel who enrolled in martial arts programs were asked to register their participation, though not themselves. That was done to keep track of nonstandard combative training, to ensure that the servicemen were getting good instruction and to monitor those classes that were resulting in injuries to the men. Remember that when a person joins the military, he’s essentially the property of the U.S. government, and engaging in activities that needlessly result in injury is like damaging military equipment. If a school was causing a lot of injuries, the military wanted to know about it and, in some cases, shut it down.

The third root is planted in the soil of the rich and often outrageous history of professional pugilism. In the era of boxer Joe Louis, it was common to have police on hand during a press conference to “register” the boxer as a deadly weapon. It was just a publicity stunt and carried no more legal weight than receiving the key to the city, which, of course, doesn’t mean you can open any door in town and just walk inside.

In court cases involving violent confrontations, lawyers and judges may advise the jury to bear in mind a person’s martial arts, boxing or military training when evaluating the facts of the case, as in the Matter of the Welfare of DSF, 416 N.W.2d 772 (Minn. App. 198 cool , where the Minnesota Court of Appeals concluded that the defendant, who had “substantial experience in karate,” was aware enough of the potential of his blows to deliberately break the plaintiff’s jaw. But that is a lot different from legally stating that the person in question is a registered and/or licensed deadly weapon.

What’s truly disturbing, however, is that some martial artists carry “registration cards” they’ve received from their instructors. Those instructors charge them a hefty fee to be registered, and the students believe what they’ve been told—that they’re now listed as deadly weapons.

Niiiiice......

Even an idiot who has no fighting experience can be dangerous. Oh, speaking of martial arts myths, how about this one: That punching someone in the nose will send the bone to their brain.

This is a funny topic and I find some martial artist play into the myth whereas I shun it. Infact I once knew a guy who swore he was register as a deadly weapon. The nose bone into the brain comes from the fact that if hit hard enough in the nose you can break the sphenoid bone which can rupture arteries that feed the brian and you bleed out. Fortunatly for us this takes a tremendous amount of force (car crash or worse) so much so that the neck breaks first. I dont think a martial artist could do it with a fist. but it is technically possible however improbable.