Legislation Introduced To Protect Ivory Handled Knife Owners
Legislation to stop the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) from seriously harming millions of Americans by unnecessarily restricting interstate commerce of legal ivory and products containing legal ivory, such as ivory handled and decorated knives, was introduced in both the House and the Senate.
Representatives Steve Daines (MT) and Jeff Miller (FL) sponsored H.R. 5052, and Senator Lamar Alexander (TN) sponsored S. 2587. These bills complement a House appropriations bill passed out of sub-committee on July 9th that would de-fund USFWS enforcement of its new ivory policy that needlessly punishes innocent Americans, while allowing the Administration to protect African elephants and other wildlife from poaching.
Both bills are carefully tailored to allow the Administration to combat African elephant poaching and criminal organizations that sell illicit ivory in China. The bills protect innocent Americans who have complied with existing import prohibitions on antiques and the large stocks of ivory that have been in the United States for over 25 years. It protects the owners of musical instruments, knives, firearms, canes and a multitude of other items that include this decades-old legal ivory.
Sen. Alexander said, “The Obama administration’s announced plan to limit the trade of legal ivory, such as that found in legally produced guitars, pianos, and firearms, could prohibit musicians from buying or selling instruments that contain ivory, prevent firearms and family heirlooms containing ivory from being sold, and pose a significant threat to antique businesses.” Rep. Daines said, “[m]any Montana families own ivory-containing firearms or musical instruments that have been passed down from generation to generation and represent an important part of their way of life or heritage.
This legislation will protect law-abiding citizens who own an antique firearm, instrument, or other family heirloom that happens to contain ivory from the Director’s Order, which only punishes law-abiding Americans instead of seriously addressing the real problem of elephant poaching.”
Both bills would prohibit the USFWS from implementing any new rule, order, or standard regarding the sale and trade in ivory that wasn’t in place prior to Feb. 25, 2014. That is the date a Director’s Order initiated a process which would essentially make criminals of anyone who sells or trades ivory or any item containing even the smallest amount of ivory, such as ivory handled or decorated knives, even though the item or the ivory in it was legally imported into the U.S. decades ago prior to the existing bans.
The new Administration policy would devalue billions of dollars of legal property from tens of millions of law-abiding Americans, essentially an unconstitutional government taking. Existing import restrictions that have been in place for 25 years exemplify the U.S. world leadership in protecting elephants by stopping illegal ivory from entering our country. Virtually all the trade in poached ivory occurs in China. The USFWS’ and world bodies’ extensive monitoring of illegal ivory shows that illegal ivory trade into the U.S. is not significant, and when found, is aggressively prosecuted.
This legislation would stop USFWS from wasting resources on prosecuting innocent Americans and focus on criminals in Africa and Asia. Knife Rights condemns the illegal slaughter of elephants and supports practical efforts to stop the poaching and trade in illegal ivory, but this Administration’s effort to outlaw legal ivory that’s been in the U.S. for decades will not save a single elephant. The Administration has not shown any evidence that this policy change that unfairly impacts millions of law-abiding Americans will have any effect on poaching or the trade in illegal ivory.
All it will do is harm law-abiding Americans. Call or e-mail your representative and senators TODAY and ask them to co-sponsor H.R. 5052 and S. 2587.
