Anarcho-Tyranny in LA: City Leaders Look to Crack Down on Barbecues, Ignore Encampment Fires

Summer is nearly here and a hard-left Los Angeles city councilmember has proposed something that the people have surely been yearning for: banning backyard barbecues.

Yes, really.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who is also running for mayor, introduced a motion on Wednesday to ban backyard barbecues during certain high fire danger days in the city, the California Post reported.

The motion was blocked by Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, who told the California Post, “the last thing Angelenos need is a ban on hosting a carne asada in their own backyard.” Rodriguez added that the law would have been entirely disconnected from how people live.

“We’re not checking the weather for red flag conditions before planning a backyard barbecue,” Rodriguez said. “This is what families do. Birthday parties. Carne asadas. Family gatherings. A lot of people barbecue.”

No kidding.

That’s common sense. But not to the left-wing busybody overlords who foist these niggling and obnoxious regulations on society while ignoring the massive consequences of their own policies.

And that’s what is so outrageous here in a move that is deeply illustrative of leftist governance.

First, let’s get one thing out of the way. The infamous Palisades Fire that raged out of control and devastated countless homes in Los Angeles didn’t happen because of a barbecue or “climate change.” It was allegedly started by a left-wing agitator who wanted to be a kleptomaniac version of Luigi Mangioni.

Jonathan Rinderknecht, the 20-year-old Uber driver charged with setting the fire was reportedly motivated by his hatred of the “rich.” Then the fire raged out of control because of the LA government’s incompetence.

Southern California isn’t otherwise facing a scourge of fires caused by backyard barbecues.

In fact, as National Review pointed out, not a single big fire can be attributed to the recent big blazes that have rocked the state. Most have been caused by lightning strikes, downed power lines, and arson. They’ve raged out of control often because of poor forest and water management.

But there is another huge cause of fires that LA simply refuses to address.

A far larger problem than barbecues is the fires ignited in the countless homeless encampments that dot the city of Los Angeles and other cities. The LA Fire Department has noted that this is a huge and growing problem that seriously taxes city resources.

According to ABC 7 Eyewitness News, a records request for “Homeless or Encampment Related” fires turned up a staggering 75,000 incidents since 2020.

“The numbers fluctuate month-to-month, but the trend is unmistakable,” ABC 7 reported. “In 2020, LAFD logged 7,165 homeless-related fires. From January through mid-December 2025, that number climbed to 16,982, an average of 46 fires every day in the city of Los Angeles. Most of these fires are small and quickly extinguished, but some spread with devastating consequences.”

Despite this obvious problem, the city refuses to remove the encampments. They insist the issue is housing. Yet despite their programs to increase housing for the homeless, the fire problem increases. In fact, going by this data, the number of incidents more than doubled in five years.

Here’s what one homeowner said of a nearby homeless encampment to ABC 7 in that investigative piece: “I spoke to LAPD to kick them out and they did nothing, and my house burned, and my dogs are dead.”

That fire was caused by homeless squatters allegedly setting fire to a house next door. According to the New York Post, “the police said the squatters couldn’t be arrested without any criminal record.”

Keep in mind that the problem caused by these homeless encampments extends well beyond the deadly fires. The entire emergency response system bends to the consequences.

The New York Post noted that the sheer volume of calls to the homeless encampments is causing slower response times.

“One fire station in south Los Angeles, for example, responded to 78 fires all due to one encampment beneath Harbor Freeway on King Boulevard,” the Post reported. “Ambulances had to be sent for each of those calls.”

If the response of city leaders was merely to fiddle as LA burned, that would be bad enough. But it wasn’t. Instead, they insist on doing nothing, then taking away the liberties of normal, law-abiding people.

This phenomenon is sometimes called “anarcho-tyranny,” and I think the word is apt. Behaviors leftists approve of are given free reign, everything else is tightly (and often ruthlessly) regulated.

These policies defy common sense, but they define left-wing governance. For the cause of social justice we must all suffer and pay the price.

I don’t know about you, but I’d prefer to keep my barbecue and the Spirit of ’76.