When the law has a bunch of ridiculous stuff in it, like not carrying a plank down a busy sidewalk, that might make the average person think that other seemingly ridiculous things in the law, like not making two $5000 cash deposits to your own bank account, are similarly not enforced. They can find out the hard way which is which.

Also, if you’re trying to just read the law to find whether a certain thing is illegal, it helps to not have a bunch of stupid unenforced laws just cluttering up the statutes. Getting rid of the deadwood is a good thing. And maybe they’re only pruning 0.5% of the laws, but something is better than nothing.

I’d rather have the old laws off the books than rely of the good will of the police/prosecutors/judges to not enforce it. In addition it makes looking up current law easier as you do not have to sort through all the old trash. Personally I think most laws should have a built in expiration date.