LA Ban on Homicide Pondered

In an interest of promoting peace the Los Angeles City Council voted on a 40 hour long moratorium on murder and violence. The intent was to use the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination as a impetus for beginning a non-violent trend.

Activists asked the city council to consider the resolution introduced
by member Richard Alarcon...

"A moratorium on violence and killing is something we should support 365
days a year and every minute we live,"

The council spent 45 minutes in debate before deciding that resolution was hollow and that a limit of 40 hours was non-sensical. If a moratorium can be put in place that shows the conviction of the city, why should it end after 40 hours, why shouldn't it be for 40 weeks or 40
years?

Council members had been asked by a handful of activists to declare a 40-hour ban on murder and other violence, a concept one critic quickly described as "silliness."

The whole charade prompted many to deride the effort as silliness. Joe Hicks, a former director of the city's Human Relations Commission said....

"I'm sure that the people who are doing the killing will hear that the council
is calling for a moratorium and then cease and desist,"
"It's more silliness from our wonderful City Council."

The real peace lovers didn't think it was so silly. Councilman Tony Cardenas made the angry retort...

"That's the kind of attitude that Martin Luther King had to step over and step
across to get the job done,"

These citizens from California are considered to be at the leading edge of national lawmaking. Maybe their progressive attitudes generate creative legislation, but not this time.