Photo Courtesy USFWS
Following federal rulemakings on ivory in 2014 and at the request of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), state lawmakers in 20 states and the District of Columbia proposed legislation to ban the intrastate commerce of legal ivory. In the 2015 legislative session, NRA-ILA successfully lobbied against and defeated 16 of these proposals as of mid-August and will continue to fight the five remaining proposals. None of the state proposals from the 2015 legislative session have passed out of the state legislature.
Due to the failure of the Washington state ivory ban legislation, billionaire Paul Allen, who backed Initiative 594 in 2014, is backing Initiative 1401 on the November 2015 ballot to ban commerce of currently legal ivory (and animal parts from other endangered species) within Washington. The HSUS has threatened to run a similar ballot measure in Oregon, after the proposal failed to pass through the legislative process there. The NRA has led the way in defeating these flawed proposals across the United States and will continue to stand up for the rights of gun owners.
For further updates, go to NRAILA.org.
