There is currently a bill before Congress that would ban the interstate commerce and transport of "leghold" traps as well as fur derived from animals caught using these devices.

H.R. 1691 has been referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, House Ways and Means Committee, House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, House Foreign Affairs Committee, House Judiciary Committee, and House Judiciary Subcommitte on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security.

It's sponsor is Representative Nita Lowrey (D) New York
Co-sponsors are:
Gary Ackerman (D) New York
Brian Baird (D) Washington
Shelley Berkley (D) Nevada
William Clay (D) Missouri
Joseph Crowley (D) New York
Peter DeFazio (D) Oregon
Sam Farr (D) California
Barney Frank (D) Massachusetts
Raul Grijalva (D) Arizona
James McDermott (D) Washington
Michael McNulty (D) New York
George Miller (D) California
Jose Serrano (D) New York
Christopher Shays (R) Connecticut

These bills are introduced with each Congress, and never make it out of committee, but I thought it important for trappers to know which representatives are trying to end your trapping.

Does the (D) mean "dumb" and the (R) mean im a retard and why am i here with all these "D"'s???

Interesting which states have multiple representatives on that list. NY, Washington, California...figures.

Charles, I think thats the deepest post of yours that I've ever read...
I hope one day I'm smart enough to figure that stuff out.

Christopher Shays is the co-chair of the Congressional Friends of Animals Caucus.

I have called Shays office, and Tom Lantos (other co-chair) office trying to get a complete list of the caucus membership, and they will not release it for some reason.

The Congressional Friends of Animals Caucus is strongly supported by PETA, HSUS, and every crackpot extremist animal rights group on the internet.

Here is a partial list that I have been able to glean off the internet. There are references by AR groups to 21 members of this caucus, but getting a complete list is like pulling teeth. Nobody wants to name them.

Rep. Christopher Shays (R) Connecticut
Rep. Tom Lantos (D) California
Senator Harry Reid (D) Nevada
Rep. Raul Grijalva (D) Arizona
Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R) New Jersey
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D) Oregon
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D) Ohio
Rep. Frank Pallone Jr (D) New Jersey
Rep. Nita Lowey (D) New York

LOL cwild

This alert comes up frequently, and every time we try to talk about it, or write letters, or discuss it, a handful of old-timers or higher-ups tell us not to panic, not to worry about it, or not to mobilize because this happens every year and it's already being dealt with on the national level or some such thing. Every time. This happened just 3 months ago, and it got squashed for that reason.

Normally, I'd be jumping all over this kind of info, writing letters, making phone calls, all that jazz, but since this topic got squashed last time, not gonna do it again.

Well, I spent a considerable amount of time trying to find the membership of the Congressional Friends of Animals Caucus, including calls to congressmen's offices and emails, only to have the post removed from the trapper talk forum and relegated to the backwater of this forum within 5 minutes of posting it. Nobody will see it here. Nobody comes to this forum. The last post of any kind on this entire forum before this thread was over 3 weeks ago.

Never again will I expend any effort like this, only to have it flushed.

Trapping is doomed, and it is the fault of trappers.

I think I'll go make a post about rain in Texas or quitting smoking. Those kinds of topics seem to be more important.

LMAO buck,

welcome to the club of realized futility. the secret is to just care about NASCAR and Paris Hilton, those are the important things in life (tongue in cheek -obviously!) hey, how about a FOIA request to this Caucus? do they have an actual office and would that work? just thinking...

We're our own worst enemies. The reason there will no political stuff on the main forum is because trappers can't get along. They will turn such a post into a knock-down brawl of egos and intolerance. I won't have that on here.

Charle's comment about the "D" after the names alone would be enough to enrage some on the main forum and make the post a battleground. Trappers cannot and will not get along.

Plain and simple - we are our own worst enemies.

Why cant the Nta or Fta introduce a bill to ban these bills. Im not joking. There would be a way to word it.

I think the trapping community is just like the shooting community they will never truly get along and it will take something drastic for them to put aside their differences and stand united.