On a mostly technical note, you're most likely seeing closed questions, not locked ones. Locking prevents discussion, answering, or any other actions by anyone

On a mostly technical note, you're most likely seeing closed questions, not locked ones. Locking prevents discussion, answering, or any other actions by anyone except one of the 12 moderators; there are currently 16 locked questions on the site. Closing, on the other hand, can be undone by any five of the 7500+ users who have 3000 reputation.