Another Bill That Chris Christie Needs To Veto

The list of ridiculous bills that the New Jersey Legislature has passed and that Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) needs to veto has grown again. In addition to the magazine ban bill this is sitting on his desk, there is now a bill that totally bans ivory or “ivory products”. This ban extends to 10,000 year old ivory from mammoth tusks.

Ivory products are more than carved elephant tusks. They would include things like the keys on older Steinway concert pianos, 150-year old whale scrimshaw, slabs and handles from knives, old billiard balls, and the grips on George Patton’s revolvers. Banning the transfer of ivory or ivory products at the state level does nothing to stop elephant poaching in Africa.

Knife Rights has issued a strongly worded alert on this bill. Reading through the bill myself, I agree that it is all encompassing and permits no real exceptions. It is a bill that ought to be vetoed.

In a move
that caught just about
everyone by surprise, last
week the New Jersey
legislature quietly passed
S.2012/A.3128,
a draconian total ivory ban
bill with no exemptions for
existing legal ivory and
that even bans
10,000-year-old mammoth
ivory. This
poorly drafted bill even
opens the door to outright
confiscation of
ivory-handled knives and
arrest of knife owners!
 

 

Knife
Rights unequivocally
supports legitimate
efforts to stop the
illegal slaughter of
elephants in Africa
,
but
this
bill will not save a
single elephant
.
Unfortunately,
instead of going after
poachers, smugglers
and traders of illicit
ivory, the New Jersey
legislature has
decided to launch an
all-out attack on
innocent New Jerseyans
by passing an absurd
TOTAL Ivory Ban
that
will not save a single
living elephant
.

Knife
Rights has asked Gov.
Christie to veto this
irrational and very
destructive bill. 
If
you are a New Jersey
resident or do business
in New Jersey, WRITE or
CALL the Governor TODAY
and ask him to VETO
S.2012/A.3128.
 

The NJ Ivory Ban Bill
outlaws ALL ivory from ANY
ANIMAL (elephant, hippo,
mammoth, narwhal, walrus,
whale, etc.). It makes it
illegal to to import, sell,
offer for sale, purchase,
barter or possess with
intent to sell (a
intentionally vague term of
law subject to abusive
interpretation that could
lead to knife confiscations
and arrests) any
ivory or ivory product with no
exceptions for antique or
heretofore legal ivory
imported decades ago prior to
the existing 24-year-old U.S.
ban on ivory imports.

This ban would
irreparably harm owners of
ivory-handled and fossil
ivory-handled knives,
antiques, musical instruments
and any items containing ivory
legally imported into this
country decades ago by
stripping their value – a
taking of millions of dollars
from law-abiding New
Jerseyans. The ban would
criminalize legitimate
business owners and cause
immediate ruinous financial
loss for them. It will
cost the state millions of
dollars in tax revenue and
not
save a single living
elephant! 

 

This
bill will not save a
single elephant
because study after study
have shown no connection
between the legal ivory
market in decades-old
ivory in the U.S. and
poaching in Africa. International
and U.S. studies
document that virtually
all the ivory poached in
Africa goes to China
where it is valued at 6
times the price of
decades-old legal ivory
in the U.S.
Moreover, it is already a
federal crime to import
ivory into the U.S. and a
crime to possess or sell
illegally imported ivory.
   

  

This outrageous
and draconian bill also
represents an unconstitutional
“taking” of
protected private property,
violating both the Fifth
Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution and Article 1, #1
and #20 of the N.J.
Constitution.
While lawsuits
challenging this law, if
signed, wend their way though
the courts, untold hundreds or
thousands of ivory owners will
be arrested and prosecuted
under this absurd law.

  

NOTHING IN THIS
ABSURD BILL WILL SAVE A
SINGLE ELEPHANT!

This is “feel
good – do bad”
legislation at its
worst! 

 

New
Jersey residents and all
who do business in New
Jersey should WRITE or
CALL the Governor TODAY
and ask him to VETO S.2012/A.3128.

Email Governor
Christie at: Constituent.Relations@gov.state.nj.us
 

Call the Governor at: 609-292-6000

When you call or
write, all you need to do is
ask the Governor to VETO
S.2012/A.3128, the ivory Ban
Bill. If you’d like to write
more, click
here for Knife Rights’ NJ
Ivory Ban Model Letter to
Gov.
Christie.