IT"S OK TO READ THIS THERE ARE NO VIDEOS INCLUDED.....
PLEASE PRAY THE SENATE DOES THE RIGHT THING!!!!!
H.R. 5566 was passed with revision again. It appears that special
interest groups have gotten some of the wording altered as per their
concerns. The Senate will now have to vote on this bill once again.
Below is an article written by
Jim Abrams, Associated Press
L.A. Unleashed
All things animal in Southern
California and beyond
WASHINGTON -- The House on Monday voted to ban so-called crush videos
that depict the abuse and killing of animals.
The measure would revive, with some modifications, a 1999 law that was
struck down by the Supreme Court in April on the grounds it was too
broadly written and violated 1st Amendment free speech protections.
Congress has been trying since then to come up with a more narrowly
crafted law, and the measure the House passed still differs slightly
from a version approved by the Senate in September. It now goes back
to the Senate.
"We need a law that stays on the books," House Judiciary Committee
Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) said in explaining the decision to
tinker with the Senate language.
The bill was the first to be taken up in the lame-duck session of
Congress that opened Monday.
The legislation, which the House originally passed in July, would make
it a crime to sell or distribute videos that violate bans on animal
cruelty by showing animals being burned, drowned, suffocated or
impaled.
Such videos appeal to a sexual fetish by showing women, often barefoot
or wearing high heels, stomping small animals to death.
Every state bans animal cruelty, but it has been difficult to apply
those laws to crush videos because they often do not show faces, dates
or locations. The legislation makes interstate sale of such videos a
crime subject to fines and imprisonment.
Conyers said the House took out a Senate provision that made
punishments for attempting or conspiring to make the videos equal to
punishments for a completed product. He said that could cause
constitutional issues.
Betsy Dribben, vice president for government relations at the American
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, expressed frustration
at the delay. "We're concerned about the animals being killed and we're
also concerned about the social ramifications," she said, citing
opinions that cruelty to animals can be a catalyst to violence against
humans.
Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.), a sponsor of the original bill in 1999,
said in a previous statement that famed killers such as Ted Bundy and
Ted Kaczynski tortured or killed animals before killing people.
The legislation makes exceptions for films depicting hunting, trapping
and fishing.
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RELATED NEWS ABOUT ANIMALS AND THE LAW:
New law banning devocalization of dogs and cats to go into effect in
Massachusetts
Georgia lawmakers weigh a ban of gas chambers as a means of euthanizing
shelter pets
-- Jim Abrams, Associated Press
Taken from www.fox8.com TV Station
[Posted in FML 6883]
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