FC: US House tackles dread meance of foot fetishes in vote today

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

In August I sent out a note about a bill restricting the dread menace of
physical and electronic images of foot fetish "crush videos."

It's being debated right now on the House floor under a rule reserved for
supposedly noncontroversial legislation. Not surprisingly it's McCollum
who's pushing it. The debate is hysterical -- Bob Barr talking about the
FBI not needing more power to regulate videotapes, and Ron Paul citing
abuse of the Commerce Clause. Lots of discussions about sexual
gratification from dead monkeys.

Sigh.

Here's email that's circulating on the Hill asking for support.

> From: Mereu, Richard 
> Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 1999 3:30 PM
> To:   Dear Colleague
> Subject:      HR 1887 - Suspension Calendar
>
> STOP THE SPREAD OF ANIMAL
> CRUELTY VIDEOS
> VOTE FOR H.R. 1887
>
> ! H.R. 1887 stops "crush videos" - videos that show the torture and
> killing of small animals for the gratification of the viewer.
>
> ! Bill does not impact any videos on hunting and fishing. 
>
> ! Bill has strong bipartisan support - passed 22 to 4 in Judiciary
> Committee.
>
> ! H.R. 1887 is needed by law enforcement to prohibit those that make
> millions from selling videos that feature torture and killing of animals
> in violation of existing state animal cruelty laws.

-Declan

---
[august note follows]

War. Poverty. Hunger. Such are the perils confronting us in the late 20th
century. But recently one of our elected representatives, Rep. Elton Gallegly
(R-Calif), stomped down to the floor of the august US House of Representatives
to angrily denounce... foot fetishes!

Here's his speech, devoted to his bill that would punish physical and
"electronic images" -- think JPEGs -- of women stepping on "small animals with
their feet" and other anti-beastie activities. As you might expect, the idea's
pretty insane. It would, as Eugene Volokh points out, make it a crime to
distribute documentaries showing Spanish bullfights or publish National
Geographics with photos of poachers of endangered animals in Africa.

Excerpts (typos faithfully reproduced from congressional record):

> "People around the country are making `crush videos.' These videos feature
> women crushing small animals with their feet while wearing spiked heals. The
> videos are sold nationwide to people who enjoy this type of so-called `foot
> fetish.' and sellers of the video are making millions of dollars.
>
> "The acts of animals cruelty featured in the video are illegal under state
> law. However... it is difficult to prosecute these acts under state animal
> cruelty laws. First, a District Attorney must identify the individual in the
> video. This is a difficult task given the fact that most of the time, only
> the actress' legs are shown... 
>
> "Sick criminals are taking advantage of the loopholes in the local law and
> the lack of federal law on animal cruelty videos. This is a serious problem.
> Thousands of these videos are being sold. Thousands of dollars are being
> made. By not closing these loopholes and allowing this sick behavior, we are
> encouraging people to profit from violating the state animal cruelty laws.
> This must be stopped! I urge all of my colleagues to join me in pursuing
this
> legislation which will put an end to profiting from these disgusting
criminal
> acts.


The bill:
  http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d106:h.r.01887:

-Declan

***********

HR 1887 IH 

                                         106th CONGRESS 

                                            1st Session 

                                            H. R. 1887 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to punish the depiction of animal
cruelty. 

                              IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

                                          May 20, 1999 

Mr. GALLEGLY (for himself, Mr. SHAYS, Mrs. MORELLA, Mr. BROWN of California,
and Mr. LIPINSKI) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary 


                                             A BILL 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to punish the depiction of animal
cruelty. 

     Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress 
     assembled, 

SECTION 1. PUNISHMENT FOR DEPICTION OF ANIMAL CRUELTY. 

     (a) IN GENERAL- Chapter 3 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by
adding at the end the following: 

`Sec. 48. Depiction of animal cruelty 

     `(a) CREATION, SALE, OR POSSESSION- Whoever knowingly creates, sells, or
possesses a depiction of animal cruelty with the intention of placing that
depiction in interstate or foreign commerce for commercial gain, shall be
fined
under this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.

     `(b) DEFINITIONS- In this section-- 

          `(1) the term `depiction of animal cruelty' means any visual or
auditory depiction, including any photograph, motion-picture film, video
recording, electronic image, or sound recording of conduct in which a living
animal is intentionally maimed, mutilated, tortured, wounded, or killed, if
such conduct is illegal under Federal law or the law of the State in which the
creation, sale, or possession takes place, regardless of whether the maiming,
mutilation, torture, wounding, or killing took place in the State; and

          `(2) the term `State' means each of the several States, the District
of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam,
American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and any
other
commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States.'.

     (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT- The table of sections for such chapter is amended
by adding at the end the following: 

          `48. Depiction of animal cruelty.'. 





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