ALERT! California Bill Banning African Big 5 Passes Senate

Posted on May 31, 2018


http://www.sportsmensalliance....big-5-passes-senate/

Take Action Today! California sportsmen need to call their state assemblyman and ask them to vote NO on Senate Bill 1487. This bill could move very quickly. California members can find their state senator by using the Sportsmen’s Alliance Legislative Action Center.


In California, legislation that would ban the import of Africa’s iconic Big Five species passed the Senate Appropriations Committee on May 25 with a vote of 5 to 2, and passed out of the full senate on May 30 on a vote of 27-6. The misguided bill will now head to the assembly.

Senate Bill 1487, sponsored by Sen. Henry I. Stern (D-27), also called the Iconic African Species Protection Act, would ban the importation of body parts from Big Five species unless they are being used for educational or scientific purposes. Anyone in violation of the act could face a fine of $5,000 to $50,000. SB 1487 has already been reported favorably out of the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee on April 16 and the Senate Public Safety Committee on April 24, giving it a full-head of steam heading into the assembly.

Currently, American hunters may hunt Africa’s Big Five, which includes elephants, lions, leopards, Cape buffalo and black or white rhinos. These hunters must obtain the proper import permits from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and must be legally permitted to hunt those species in the range countries. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service only issues import permits for hunts that occur in countries that maintain sound conservation plans that help improve threatened and endangered wildlife. Dollars spent by American hunters fund anti-poaching operations, wildlife studies and provide needed funds to rural villages in range countries.

Dollars spent by American hunters are a significant reason why the Big Five and many other African species thrive. This bill will do nothing to aid wildlife. In fact, if other states follow in the footsteps of New Jersey and Washington, African game will actually suffer.

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And what, may I ask, are these idiots going to achieve for benefit the animals?

Oh, I get it.

Support poaching once hunting is ended!

You can forget stopping this juggernaut. 2/3 of California legislators are bleeding heart Democrats. There is a reason you can’t even bring a mountain lion mount into the state, much less hunt them. The legislature in the granola state is big bowl of fruits, nuts, and flakes.

Move yourself and your businesses out of California. Maybe we Coloradan's can shut off their water ...

When I retired 3 years ago, that’s exactly what I did. Exited stage right and never regretted it a single day!

Commiefornia strikes again. Truly idiotic.

Isn't the regulation of the importation of animal trophies a federal mandate through the USFWS? So how can any state declare laws above federal requirements? The state also can't declare endangered species, only the feds can.

Unfortunately the states can pass laws like these; for example, 7 states have banned the legal ivory trade within their borders.

USF&WS occasionally has delusions of grandeur with terms like "endangered". They can really only declare US species endangered, but that doesn't stop them applying it to species like elephant when the mood suits them. The IUCN is the final authority on the status of species, though their recommendations may be adopted by organs like CITES.

Haven’t politicians lost the plot?

Are they not in office to enact laws to make life better for their voters, instead of continuously passing laws that are good for PC but actually achieve zero benfits for anything?

I apologize for the damn morons running our state of California. Nothing but liberal, bleeding hearts that have no idea how this can have an impact. The goal is to stop all hunting completely just like they want to stop citizens from owning any type of firearm. How anyone can vote for a DemoCrap in California is beyond me.

I would suppose that this will end up like some other issues in that it is local preemption of a federal issue.

This shows that feelgoodism is the basis of a lot of legislation.

I have not checked the language on this bill lately, but the original language had far more than the Big Five on it. Zebra was one, and there were many others. It was called the "Iconic African animals Act originally, or something like it. As J. Dollar said, we can forget about stopping this bill, the dems have a 2/3s majority in both houses, and a dimwit governor who is in his last year of "servicing" the public. The supremacy clause, the 4th Amendment, and the interstate commerce clause are all excellent legal arguments against this, but it is highly unlikely that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals would overturn this law, so unless the SCOTUS grants cert, this will be the law in California unless/until the day arrives when the 2nd Amendment overpowers the 1st Commandment!

Why do we put up with this.

Someone needs to sue on the basis of the right to privacy or some other constitutional grounds.

There's a moment when one realizes that the movie "Idiocracy" is a documentry, not a comedy.

I wonder what the san diego zoo thinks of this.

quote:

Originally posted by Lamar:
I wonder what the san diego zoo thinks of this.

They fall under the scientific research clause. Of course it doesn’t matter, as a zoo is never going to side with hunters. Also, when CA banned the import of legally hunted mountain lion trophies( including taxi specimens) the appeals of the ban got NOWHERE! Wake up, folks, the handwriting is on the wall and it ain’t pretty.

Ok so where are organizations like SCI, DSC, NRA, etc on this. I'm sure there lots of folks living in California that belong to these groups but what are they doing to challenge this?

Not to be neccesarily negative and pass the buck but It seems to me to often all of these groups talk a lot and do little when it counts.

This legislation is a total Charlie Foxtrot. I met with the staffer in Senator Stern's office. He's the author of this bill. His staffer is an arrogant know it all who doesn't really care what opponents of the bill think, or about the merits of their argument. The bill is highly likely to pass and be signed into law, but plans are being discussed to challenge it in the courts.

It's already having an impact, at least on me. I was going to take another zebra this September while in Zambia but won't shoot one if this law goes into effect. Another effect is that I'm considering Nevada a lot more seriously as my future state of residence.

just import the zebra and then shoot it.

We should make a rule that any politician who enacts any law that does not directly benefit the majority of his voters is fired immediately!

That would be a problem in CA, since the majority of voters are from the lower socioeconomic strata and many receive some form of government assistance.

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
That would be a problem in CA, since the majority of voters are from the lower socioeconomic strata and many receive some form of government assistance.

That is not a problem.

The problem is then enacting laws that cannot benefit anyone in Kalifornia!

Politicians don't care if the law benefits anyone. They just want to get re-elected by pandering to their voter base.

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
Politicians don't care if the law benefits anyone. They just want to get re-elected by pandering to their voter base.

This^^

They get to act "concerned" and "globally aware" vs. getting things done for voters. Rich donors and non-profits donate, they can't lose. Whatever the Dems are doing in CA is working great for them. They will export their successful idiocy to Oregon, Washington, New York, Conneticut - everywhere they can. The only counter to it is a well thought out strategy that wins votes, not a poorly thought out strategy that's guaranteed to lose - which is what happens all too often.

I keep all the business I can away from CA, never go there unless I have to - and I bet it doesn't add up to squat! At least I get to say I'm doing something.

They passed a similar bill in NJ and it was overturned an overreach of the federal laws > New Jersey is as bad as California looking forward to relocating to Florida . Our new Govenor is a liberal loon more taxes ,gun control and pandering to the municipal unions that elected him . I hear a sucking sound of people just leaving these liberal blue states it's just to expensive and difficult too justify staying.

In response to cougarz, The NRA, CRPA, and SCI are doing everything possible AT THIS TIME to stop this bill from being enacted into law. As others have also said, the Dems have an absolute lock on both houses of the legislature, and the governor's office and the election process has been perverted to make it highly unlikely that a Republican can ever win the governor's office and veto this kind of garbage. Until the law is in effect, there is nothing that can be done in court. A victory in a lower court would be appealed, and most likely overturned by the 9th Circus. Even an ultimate victory would take several years,and that is all that the antis care about. There are plenty of activists here in Kalifornia, and anyone who says otherwise is blatantly ignorant of the truth. It is just an impossible situation, but we will go down swinging. Giving up is not an option.

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
Politicians don't care if the law benefits anyone. They just want to get re-elected by pandering to their voter base.

Yup

As much as it pains me to admit, this bill reflects the wishes of the majority of Californians. So, in essence, their elected reps are doing as their voters wish. Hunters , especially DG hunters, are a VERY small minority of any voting block and damn near non existent in CA. It matters not if the animals of Africa are the ultimate victims here. I hate this bill and it’s ultimate effect but the handwriting is on the wall.

Another step closer to a Spanish style civil war.........

I'm ready for California to break off and slide deep into the Cold Dark Pacific Ocean..
Those Southern California areas are completely out of line with American values

I wonder where did Californians get the idea to ban African hunting trophies.African hunting is not a subject that affects the everyday lives of most Californians.Why should Californian's senate have to vote on something like banning African hunting trophies? The state is owned by globalist interests.It would be interesting to know who brought the Bill to the table.

quote:

Originally posted by Tim Ferrall:
In response to cougarz, The NRA, CRPA, and SCI are doing everything possible AT THIS TIME to stop this bill from being enacted into law. As others have also said, the Dems have an absolute lock on both houses of the legislature, and the governor's office and the election process has been perverted to make it highly unlikely that a Republican can ever win the governor's office and veto this kind of garbage. Until the law is in effect, there is nothing that can be done in court. A victory in a lower court would be appealed, and most likely overturned by the 9th Circus. Even an ultimate victory would take several years,and that is all that the antis care about. There are plenty of activists here in Kalifornia, and anyone who says otherwise is blatantly ignorant of the truth. It is just an impossible situation, but we will go down swinging. Giving up is not an option.

Thanks for the update!

The only thing that bothers me in the statement above is when someone automatically thinks all democrats are liberal and all republicans are conservative. This simply isn't always the case. In Washington one of our best supporters for many years was the lieutenant governor, a democrat. The past governor also a democrat was also not against hunting. Both did many good things. Unfortunately the current crop are very much non hunters.

But to automatically brand people based on party reduces potential supporters. This is unfortunately a large problem in our current extremely polarized society. Too many people walking around with blinders on. Let each elected official stand on their own merits regardless of party.

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:
I wonder where did Californians get the idea to ban African hunting trophies.African hunting is not a subject that affects the everyday lives of most Californians.Why should Californian's senate have to vote on something like banning African hunting trophies? The state is owned by globalist interests.It would be interesting to know who brought the Bill to the table.

This bill was authored by Senator Henry Stern, a liberal democratic from the coastal area of northern Los Angeles region. The proposed legislation was lobbied for by groups such the Sierra Cub, and Center for Biological Diversity. IIRC, Defenders of Wildlife is also involved.

The author and his staff aren't interested in the other side's arguments about it being misguided. In my discussion with Stern's staffer, I asked him why the Plains Zebra was included. His answer was that "they're endangered". My response to that was to ask him if he and the Senator were aware that the IUCN listed the zebra as a species of least concern. He admitted that he was not aware and asked who IUCN is. They don't know, nor do they care.

The Sierra club should concentrate on hiking and backpacking in the Sierras and F...OFF.They should not mingle in African wildlife conservation.This ban should be appealed and go to the supreme court as it is nothing but a fake law that is set up to discriminate against sportsmen intent on conserving wildlife.Where is the justice?

quote:

Originally posted by Lamar:
I wonder what the san diego zoo thinks of this.

Now there is a joke or maybe half of the cause of this lunacy. I went to the San Diego zoo a few years ago. They have plaques at each exhibit telling about the animal's habitat, etc. About half of the animals list hunting as one of the threats to their existence.

quote:

Originally posted by Tim Ferrall:
It is just an impossible situation, but we will go down swinging. Giving up is not an option.

You are correct that it is an impossible situation. The writing is on the wall and any action that hunters/hunting groups take will only serve to slow things down but the outcome will be the same.

You are incorrect that "giving up is not an option". Giving up is THE BEST option. Move the hell out of California as soon as possible. You are wasting your life and personal resources "fighting the good fight" in a battle that is already lost.

God only grants us so much time on this earth. Wasting it fighting the inevitable in a place like California is simply misguided.

Jerry Dollar and many others will back me up on this: you will never meet a hunter who regrets moving out of California.

Guess I’m not moving to California, not that I ever
would.
Got to believe that this is not constitutional.

To those that have asked about my posts on this thread: Yes, there are good 2A democrats, and bad 2A republicans in California. My own State Senator is a Democrat, and a strong 2A supporter with an endorsement from the NRA. The problem is that the Dem party in California has a chronic 2/3rds majority, or nearly so, and does not need the few that side with us in order to pass whatever they want to. The leadership is as anti as it gets. As for moving out of Kalifornia, my grandchildren and my health insurance are both here, and I am neither callous or wealthy. No, Mr. Brown, giving up is NOT an option for me. Oregon and Washington are nearly as bad as Kalifornia. If the people in these states give up, just how long will it be before the progressive cancer crosses the Snake River into Idaho or the Colorado into Arizona and Nevada? If Davy Crockett, Chesty Puller's Marines, and those at Khe Sanh can die for my freedoms, the least I can do is stay here and fight for yours.

Don’t worry about the cancer that is CA spreading to AZ, ID, or NV. Those states will do whatever it takes not to be Californicated. Game management by ballot initiative and legislative fiat. What a farce...