Committee to Consider Bill to Stop Animal Torture Videos Today

Press Release

Legislation coauthored by Reps. Gallegly and Peters would Restore Law Banning "Crush Videos"--Pornographic Videos Involving Animal Torture and Killing--After April Supreme Court Decision.

U.S. Reps. Elton Gallegly and Gary Peters' legislation to outlaw videos depicting animal torture will be considered by the House Judiciary Committee today. The bill, the Prevention of Interstate Commerce in Animal Crush Videos Act of 2010, will restore the federal ban on videos depicting animal torture, including so-called "crush videos."

Crush videos depict a type of sexual fetish video that show small animals--guinea pigs, rabbits, even kittens or puppies--being intentionally burned, drown, suffocated and impaled, or show them being crushed to death by women wearing stiletto heels for sexual pleasure. This legislation would ban the creation, sale or distribution of all depictions of extreme animal cruelty, including crush videos.

"Violence is not a First Amendment issue; it is a law enforcement issue," Gallegly said. "Numerous studies show cruelty to animals is often the first step leading to violence against people. Ted Bundy and Ted Kaczynski tortured or killed animals before killing people. The FBI, U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice consider animal cruelty to be one of the early warning signs of potential violence by youths. This bill is one step toward ending this cycle of violence."

"Animal torture videos are heinous, barbaric and completely unacceptable and we're going to stop them once and for all," said Peters. "It's hard to believe that this sort of thing even exists, and that a new law is needed to prevent it. Animal torture is outrageously disturbing and common decency and morality dictates that those engaged in it shouldn't be profiting from it, they should be in prison."

"Congress should act swiftly to make sure the First Amendment is not used as a shield for those committing barbaric acts of cruelty, and then peddling their videos on the Internet," said Michael Markarian, chief operating officer of The Humane Society of the United States. "We are grateful to Congressman Gallegly and Congressman Peters for working to protect animals from malicious acts of cruelty."

The creation and sale of crush videos was banned by a federal law sponsored by Gallegly in 1999. However, the Supreme Court struck down the law in the case United States v. Stevens on April 20, 2010, saying the law infringed on First Amendment free speech rights. Gallegly's and Peters' legislation is carefully drafted to avoid the issues in the original law that the court found unconstitutional in order to once again prohibit people from profiting off of animal torture.

Estimates suggest that approximately 2,000 crush videos were in circulation, some selling for as much as $400, at the time the original law was established in 1999. The original law was considered to be generally effective at stopping crush videos. More than a decade later, with far more Internet users than there were during the 1990s, it is feared that the videos could become even more widespread than before.

Gallegly and Peters independently drafted separate bills following the Supreme Court's ruling to restore the ban on these heinous videos. They then worked together to write new legislation combining elements of their respective bills to ensure new legislation banning animal torture videos is constitutional and will stand up to judicial scrutiny.

"I appreciate Rep. Gallegly's work on this issue over the years," said Rep. Peters. "He authored and passed the first law to stop crush videos, and I am certain that working in a bipartisan way we can develop legislation to finally end this deplorable practice once and for all."

"I appreciate Rep. Peters' partnership as we work to stop these barbaric animal torture videos," said Gallegly. "The American people expect Congress to solve problems without regard to party. If more Members of Congress were able to put partisanship aside, Congress would be able to get much more accomplished."

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