Martial Law First of all, let's start with some terminology. When a government declares that people may not leave their house under threat of punishment (fines and imprisonment), this is martial law. It's not a "lockdown". You don't get to invent a new word for a concept that's been around for literally thousands of years to make it sound less bad. The politicians are complicit in this euphemistic lie, as well as the media, and the people parroting information on social media. It's not a "lockdown". Call things what they are.