ALERT from the National Trappers Association

[blackpowderbill]

Cross post far and wide and use the documents located on the links listed.
;)
The information is posted on the National Trappers Home page located at http://www.nationaltrappers.com

Please pass along I have up loaded the documents for all to see and link to http://www.frontiernet.net/~bpb/NTA/
The 5 links for you to read and print out as a back up to the NTA's web site.

You may as I have to do--disable your firewall for the attachments to open. They are word document and a PDF file.

In an attempt to keep all the original information;
If you need to respond to this letter please respond only to me not the reply all.

To forward please copy paste the text and save the attachments to a file so we do not loose any information

Thanks
NTA news moderator news@nationaltrappers.com

Wm. J. Brookover
SCOPE Director @ Large
www.scopeny.org
Po Box 261
Ontario,NY. 14519

www.blackpowderbill.com
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ALERT

[blackpowderbill]

SAMPLE LETTER


The Honorable (full name) (Date)

U.S. House of Representatives

Washington, DC 20515



Re: The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (S.3880)



Dear Representative (last name):



I am writing as a concerned citizen about the attacks on the fur industry and other individuals and businesses that are involved in the animal use industries. I am writing to ask you support the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (S.3880) when it comes to the house floor.



Few industries have been as victimized over the past decade by animal rights extremists as the fur industry. Farms have been raided and feed facilities and retail establishments have been vandalized and fire bombed. Damage has amounted to tens of millions of dollars. These activities are taking on an even more dangerous character in the form of threats individuals, our families and even those with whom we do business. Farmers, ranchers, fishermen, and others involved in animal use industries and their families have been victims of this criminal activity. Even medical researchers who are seeking cures for diseases that plague our society have been subject to the frightening tactics of these extremists including bomb threats, physical harassment and threats to their lives and the lives of their families. This cannot continue.



The bill would allow the criminal prosecution of anyone who intentionally damages, disrupts

or causes the loss of property used by an animal enterprise or any person or organization having

a relationship with an animal enterprise. The bill also prohibits veiled threats and harassment of individuals and their families, and it would make it a crime to intentionally place a person in reasonable fear of death, or serious bodily injury to that person or their family by a course of conduct involving threats, acts of vandalism, property damage, trespass, harassment, or intimidation.



This bill will not criminalize non-violent activities designed to change public opinion. The bill was designed to provide prosecutors and law enforcement with the tools necessary to address the increasing threat to property and individuals posed by animal rights extremists. S.3880 also reaffirms, in no uncertain terms, the protections of the First Amendment for those who engage in legitimate protest.



Despite these protections, and the fact that the Senate passed this legislation by unanimous consent, animal rights groups are mounting a last minute campaign to defeat this bill in the House. The campaign relies on the dissemination of misinformation regarding the bill’s effect, and this misleading campaign refuses to acknowledge the existence of the substantial First Amendment protections that have been incorporated into the legislation.



Sincerely,

(Signature)

(Type or print your name)

(Type or print your mailing address)

[blackpowderbill]

TALKING POINTS:



S. 3880, THE SENATE-PASSED ANIMAL ENTERPRISE TERRORISM ACT


Ø S. 3880, the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA), was passed by the Senate on September 30 by unanimous consent.



Ø AETA amends the federal criminal code to deal with increased radical animal rights and eco-terrorist violence and intimidation. Such animal rights and eco-terrorist actions are recognized by the FBI as the single biggest domestic terrorism threat in the U.S. today.



Ø AETA provides additional authority to federal law enforcement to investigate, arrest and prosecute those who would use violence and intimidation in pursuit of animal rights or radical environmental goals.



Ø AETA amends the existing “Animal Enterprise Protection Act” which has been part of the federal criminal code (18 USC, 43) since 1992. It extends protections for “animal enterprises” (where animals are housed or kept) to individuals, businesses and agencies, such as farmers, scientists, biomedical and biotechnology industries, research universities, teaching hospitals, financial institutions and others, including lawful commercial enterprises related to animal use.



Ø AETA is a product of meticulous negotiations between House and Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats and Republicans. S. 3880, authored by Sens. James Inhofe (R, OK) and Dianne Feinstein (D, CA), replaced S. 1926, Sen. Inhofe’s original bill.



Ø AETA was negotiated with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), addressing almost all of the ACLU’s concerns. The ACLU recently wrote to Rep. Robert “Bobby” Scott (D, VA), notifying him it would not oppose S. 3880 when it comes up for consideration on the House floor.



Ø AETA poses no threat to 1st Amendment rights. The bill includes a “rule of construction” which states nothing in the bill prohibits any “expressive conduct,” including peaceful picketing or other peaceful demonstration “protected from legal prohibition by the First Amendment to the Constitution…”



Ø AETA does not make it illegal to boycott or encourage a boycott of a company based on its use of animals, whether in food production, research, education, exhibition or entertainment. The bill contains specific language protecting “lawful boycotts.”



Ø AETA is necessary to provide additional protections to farmers, scientists, exhibitors, sportsmen and others from animal rights and eco-terrorist violence.