Protecting the right to speak

Nothing gets people exercising their 1st Amendment rights like

threatening them.

And the people of Huntington Beach demonstrated the true power of

those rights last month when they successfully fought an ordinance

proposed by Police Chief Kenneth Small that would have limited what

people could bring to a protest or picket line.

The reaction was not immediate. When it was first reported that

Small wanted to regulate the signs protesters and pickets could carry

-- no PVC pipe, no hard plastic, no metal and no lumber larger than,

well, a toothpick practically -- there were no cries of outrage. But

as the news sunk in, the balking began.

It was after the City Council initially approved the law, which

Small said would help police regulate crowds and keep order, that

people came out in hoards. Such a law would hamper people’s right to

free speech, they cried. You can’t carry a sign exercising those

rights on a flimsy toothpick.

Many also felt that the police chief was specifically targeting

supermarket pickets.

And so Small pulled the idea off the table. While he may not agree

with resident’s arguments, he decided it was not worth the fight.

That was a good call on his part.

To his credit, Small was undoubtedly thinking of the safety of

residents and looking for a way to make ensuring that safety easier.

But our 1st Amendment rights are sacred. Any plan, law, whatever,

that would jeopardize those rights needs to be weighed very

carefully.

Los Angeles and other cities may employ this law as Small said,

but that doesn’t mean it is a good idea or a proper fit for

Huntington Beach.

People must be able to exercise their rights to free speech and be

able to gather peacefully -- carrying signs if they wish -- to let

their opinions be known.