Broun opposes ban on animal abuse videos
U.S. Rep. Paul Broun was one of three congressmen who voted against banning graphic videos showing people abusing and killing animals.
Continue reading the rest of "Broun opposes ban on animal abuse videos" by Athens Banner-Herald
The House passed a ban on so-called "crush videos" Wednesday by a 416-3 vote, sending it on to the Senate. Broun, an Athens Republican, opposed the ban because it violates free-speech protections, his spokeswoman said.
"Although Dr. Broun finds the very idea that these videos even exist and that people choose to buy them repulsive, he opposed HR 5566 on Constitutional grounds and the First Amendment," Debbee Keller said. "Even the ACLU agrees with Dr. Broun on this issue."
In April, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a similar 1999 law, but supporters of banning "crush videos" said they narrowly tailored this version to punish conduct, not speech.
The bill would makes it a crime to sell or distribute videos that violate bans on animal cruelty by showing animals being burned, drowned, suffocated or impaled. Exceptions are made for normal animal husbandry films or films depicting hunting, trapping and fishing.
All 50 states have laws against animal cruelty, but states have found it difficult to prosecute crush videos because they usually don't show faces, dates or locations. The new legislation makes the interstate sale of such videos a crime subject to fines and imprisonment of up to five years.
"Animal torture videos are heinous, barbaric and com
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