Federal Over Reach

Everyone loves pets.

So much so, that it causes people to act stupidly on a continual basis.

At this point in our history we've reached the point where, in the western world, human reproduction is at an all time low but our ability to create truly messed up human being is perhaps at an all time high. Evidence of that is everywhere.  None the less, in the absence of tiny humans to fawn over, many people have turned to pets, and in the process forgotten that they are animals.  Even the terms used, including the disgusting anthropomorphism "fur baby", gives evidence of that.

And now a certain type of strange animal abuse has been made a Federal crime.

Last Monday Donald Trump signed the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture act, a completely moronic legal provision.

Animal cruelty is illegal in all fifty states. There was no need to make this a Federal crime other than it gives some deluded Federal legislature the warm fuzzies for thinking that he's doing something, when in fact he ought to be doing something else.  Here's the text:

AT THE FIRST SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Thursday,

the third day of January, two thousand and nineteen 

“48. Animal crushing.”.
To revise section 48 of title 18, United States Code, and for other purposes.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.This Act may be cited as the “Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act” or the “PACT Act”.SEC. 2. REVISION OF SECTION 48.(a) In General.—Section 48 of title 18, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:“§ 48. Animal crushing“(a) Offenses.—“(1) CRUSHING.—It shall be unlawful for any person to purposely engage in animal crushing in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce or within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States.“(2) CREATION OF ANIMAL CRUSH VIDEOS.—It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly create an animal crush video, if—“(A) the person intends or has reason to know that the animal crush video will be distributed in, or using a means or facility of, interstate or foreign commerce; or“(B) the animal crush video is distributed in, or using a means or facility of, interstate or foreign commerce.“(3) DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMAL CRUSH VIDEOS.—It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly sell, market, advertise, exchange, or distribute an animal crush video in, or using a means or facility of, interstate or foreign commerce.“(b) Extraterritorial Application.—This section applies to the knowing sale, marketing, advertising, exchange, distribution, or creation of an animal crush video outside of the United States, if—“(1) the person engaging in such conduct intends or has reason to know that the animal crush video will be transported into the United States or its territories or possessions; or“(2) the animal crush video is transported into the United States or its territories or possessions.“(c) Penalties.—Whoever violates this section shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for not more than 7 years, or both.“(d) Exceptions.—“(1) IN GENERAL.—This section does not apply with regard to any conduct, or a visual depiction of that conduct, that is—“(A) a customary and normal veterinary, agricultural husbandry, or other animal management practice;“(B) the slaughter of animals for food;“(C) hunting, trapping, fishing, a sporting activity not otherwise prohibited by Federal law, predator control, or pest control;“(D) medical or scientific research;“(E) necessary to protect the life or property of a person; or“(F) performed as part of euthanizing an animal.“(2) GOOD-FAITH DISTRIBUTION.—This section does not apply to the good-faith distribution of an animal crush video to—“(A) a law enforcement agency; or“(B) a third party for the sole purpose of analysis to determine if referral to a law enforcement agency is appropriate.“(3) UNINTENTIONAL CONDUCT.—This section does not apply to unintentional conduct that injures or kills an animal.“(4) CONSISTENCY WITH RFRA.—This section shall be enforced in a manner that is consistent with section 3 of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb–1).“(e) No Preemption.—Nothing in this section shall be construed to preempt the law of any State or local subdivision thereof to protect animals.“(f) Definitions.—In this section—“(1) the term ‘animal crushing’ means actual conduct in which one or more living non-human mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians is purposely crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, impaled, or otherwise subjected to serious bodily injury (as defined in section 1365 and including conduct that, if committed against a person and in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, would violate section 2241 or 2242);“(2) the term ‘animal crush video’ means any photograph, motion-picture film, video or digital recording, or electronic image that—“(A) depicts animal crushing; and“(B) is obscene; and“(3) the term ‘euthanizing an animal’ means the humane destruction of an animal accomplished by a method that—“(A) produces rapid unconsciousness and subsequent death without evidence of pain or distress; or“(B) uses anesthesia produced by an agent that causes painless loss of consciousness and subsequent death.”.(b) Technical And Conforming Amendment.—The table of sections for chapter 3 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking the item relating to section 48 and inserting the following:
SEC. 3. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS.The budgetary effects of this Act, and the amendments made by this Act, for the purpose of complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall be determined by reference to the latest statement titled “Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation” for this Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, provided that such statement has been submitted prior to the vote on passage.

So, you may ask, how could anyone object to the illegalization of such abhorrent conduct as that made illegal in this law.

Because it was already illegal.

It's difficult to believe that the state of the Federal law has reached a point where there's nothing else for the Federal government to actually do but to get into something that state and local law enforcement already has handled.

And additionally, irrespective of its original noble intent, the law will be misused, sooner or later, as its a Federal law and they always are.  At some point, somebody, in a packing house, or transporting animals in agriculture, or something, will get prosecuted by an overzealous Federal prosecutor and have to endure a nightmare that they shouldn't have.

Indeed, in this election season we have heard more than once from Democratic candidates for office who have made it plain that they'd flat out ignore the Constitution in regard to the Second Amendment.  Kamala Harris, who was a state prosecutor, has shown absolute contempt for the law in this area, which makes a person wonder what her feelings were when she was a prosecutor in regard to the law. And as a post here recently noted, the Federal law that came to apply to marijuana and hemp has caused ongoing legal oddities as the country has moved towards state legalization. Marijuana is still illegal nationwide under the Federal law, which is one of the reasons that the FDA doesn't study or regulate it.

Congress has plenty to do. . . or at least it ought to.  Making the already illegal, illegal, is a waste of time and a misdirection of purpose.