PLEASE READ. Every antique dealer, furniture dealer, gun dealer, music shop, etc. worldwide will be affected by this. The hearing on ivory commerce in the United States, in Arlington, Virginia yesterday. The advisory panel is comprised of individuals who have nothing to do with the art and antiques world, thus your participation in having our voice heard in this matter is critical. 1. The Advisory Council was largely ignorant about the legal use of domestic ivory, and they expressed surprise and concern about the number of people who wrote in expressing concern leading up to this meeting. Clearly, they see serious potential political problems if the legal ivory trade organizes to oppose this ban. I challenged them directly on their failure to include people who deal with legal ivory in their deliberations and proposals 2. One of the key members of the Council advocating for changes in the law admitted to me that the Ivory Ban “came down from above” and the he had not even read the domestic ivory ban proposals until shortly before this meeting. He said to me after the meeting concluded that the proposed ban was extremely broad and he understands why people working with Ivory today are in a panic. 3. There were about 25 people who came out to comment about the Ivory Ban, and about half spoke eloquently about reasons to oppose or soften the ban. Representatives of musical instrument dealers, orchestras, auctioneers, antique collectors, knife dealers and scrimshaw artists stood up and told the Council the Draconian impact that the ban would have on their lives without saving a single African elephant. The Council was clearly attentive and concerned about their comments. There were also animal rights activists who made comments, some of which were quite extreme (i.e. elephants are “more evolved than humans” and “all ivory comes from poached elephants”). The Activist’s comments spoke for themselves and added nothing new to the discussion. 4. Sandra Brady’s comments stood out from the others. Sandra captured how the current legal system has failed to prevent poaching and the futility of a domestic ban on that objective. She also did a great job personalizing the devastating impact on small businesses and the lives of artists, artisans and collectors who have always complied with the law and who share the goal of ending the slaughter of poached elephants. Bottom Line – we haven’t stopped the Domestic Ivory Ban freight train, but we may have slowed it down. By the end of the meeting, Advisory Council members acknowledged that the Domestic Ivory Ban posed genuine problems and political challenges. They noted that everyone agreed on measures they want to take to stop illegal poaching (prosecuting poachers and traffickers of poached ivory), and but for the Domestic Ivory Ban their proposals would not be controversial. The timing of new rules is not yet clear. There will be something published in the next few weeks addressing CITES that possibly could include revocation of an existing special rule under the Environmental Species Act. This could set up a legal framework prohibiting interstate trade of ivory. They said to expect a 30 day comment period on that rule. The “final rule” should come out in June, after which there will be a comment period. We specifically asked that these rules not be issued as “interim final rules” which would go into effect immediately, and instead asked that any rules published be subject to comment before they can be enforced. I think we have a good chance of getting this because of the wide ranging concerns raised, but nothing is guaranteed. What you need to do 1. Call your Congressman and Senators TODAY! Activist groups are already lobbying Congressmen heavily, and they are totally misrepresenting what the regulations and legal changes will do to you. You need to inform them about what the proposed changes in the law will do to you, your collections, your businesses, and your families. The message is simple – We all want to stop elephant poaching, but these laws punish innocent Americans, not elephant poachers or illegal traders in Asia. 2. Call your trade organizations and make sure they are representing you. Groups like the NRA, AARP, collectors associations, professional associations, knife clubs, gun clubs, industry lobbying groups – all of them need to hear from you and be educated about the severity of this threat. These calls have a multiplier effect when they lead back to law makers, and they are starting to get people’s attention! 3. Spread the word on social media. Use Facebook, Twitter, e-mail lists, internet forums, and all the ways you communicate people to spread the word about what the government is doing and why the Domestic Ivory Ban is a very bad idea. Please keep me in the loop. We are working on forming a more organized structure to support and maintain this fight, and communication among everyone hurt by this ban is essential to getting a rational solution to elephant poaching without destroying lives of innocent people. Rob Mitchell Corr Mitchell LLC 215-443-5050
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 18:58:44 +0000
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