Troubling USSC Case for Hunters

First Amendment Battle Could Affect Hunters and Fisherman

The law, United States Code, Title 18, Section 48 states; “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 or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.”

It goes on to say this law “does not apply to any depiction that has serious religious, political, scientific, educational, journalistic, historical or artistic value.” The remaining section is what many sportsmen will find disturbing as it goes on to define “depictions of animal cruelty” as “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.”

The case involves a hunter who published pictures of his successful hunt. This law could be used to go after hunting and fishing shows (example: hunting show has an episode involving a legal hunting method in one state and it is illegal in another). The law makes an exception for depictions that are of serious religious, political, scientific, educational, journalistic, historical, or artistic “value.” The trouble is, it is up to the government to determine what is of “value.”

IMO, the court needs to throw this out. If congress wants to stop videos of true animal cruelty (dog fighting, cockfighting, and depictions of intentionally cruel deaths of animals) they need to reword the law. It is my belief that this what they intended. Unfortunately, groups that oppose hunting and other outdoor activities will attempt to use this law to achieve their goals.