A Contest for the State’s Most Stupid Law Finds Bans on Blowguns, Duels

The competition is fierce in South Bay Assemblyman Richard Floyd’s contest to find the state’s most stupid law.

Floyd (D-Carson) has received nearly two dozen entries from citizens vying for the chance to go before the Legislature and argue why the measure they nominated should be stricken from the books.

Among them was a letter from a Sunland man protesting a 1972 law banning blowguns.

“Were the legislators watching too many Kung-foolish movies?” the author asked. Dart shooting might well occur in California in the absence of blowguns, the author wrote. But he added: “Any .22 rifle is a deadlier weapon.”

A Roseville man questioned a statute prohibiting sky divers from consuming alcohol: “Why anyone in his or her right mind would want to jump from a plane is beyond me. I assume beginners in sky diving could use a drink or three.”

Not all the laws singled out by contestants are obscure. A Pollock Pines woman raised objections to the state’s seat-belt law. And an Orinda woman urged repeal of the death penalty.

“We should work for better rehabilitation programs in the prisons and abolish the death penalty, which only reduces the dignity of everyone,” she wrote.

Floyd says his contest, launched last month, is a good way to combat voter apathy. To stimulate competition, he made a few nominations of his own, including a 1953 measure outlawing marathon dancing, walkathons and other endurance contests.

“With this kind of contest, you get people thinking,” he said.

Some of the laws cited are more than a century old. One, enacted in the 1870s, prohibits the use of false whiskers. Another, enacted in 1872, bans dueling, providing for penalties of up to one year in jail for anyone who issues or accepts a challenge.

Drawing attention to the law on duels, a Los Angeles man issued a challenge of his own: “You’re a wimp for not fighting a duel with me. There, I said it. Book ‘em, Danno.”