Vote NO on 1401

Your responsibility to be an informed voter has never been as clear as it is for this initiative. If you read the voter’s pamphlet statements, you would think they are talking about two totally different issues. Please read the initiative itself.

The proponents imply that this initiative will save elephants. If that were the case, everyone should vote for it. The truth is that endangered species are already protected under a 1973 treaty called the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species, which makes trafficking illegal, and by the Endangered Species Act of 1972. The proponents admit these laws are working by stating that illegal ivory is currently being seized at our ports.

This initiative is targeted at antiques. Ivory pieces decades or centuries old, legal when acquired, legally owned and not violating any of those laws. It strips them of their value and makes innocent people criminals.

It makes it a crime to buy or sell or even give away anything that contains ivory. It would be a felony punishable by five years in prison and a $14,000 fine if it is worth $250 or more and a gross misdemeanor if it is a first offense and worth less than $250.

The proponents say there is an “antique exemption” but that is not true. Read section 3 subsection (2)(a) carefully. An antique is exempt under this initiative only if it is less than 15 percent ivory, more than 100 years old and you have all the paperwork showing provenance back to when it was made. You actually have to prove yourself innocent. Who could ever do that?

A chess set, Mah Jong tiles, dominos, jewelry, statuettes, beads, buttons anything made of ivory would be illegal to sell or buy no matter how old they are because they are more than 15% ivory. An 80-year-old humidor with only a small inlaid flower of ivory would be illegal to sell or buy because it’s not 100 years old.

Look in your family heirlooms. Does anything look off-white? Do you know if it is ivory or not? Do you want to pay an expert to tell you if it is? Would you risk giving it away? This initiative will affect you.

Poaching in Africa cannot be stopped by a Washington initiative. The controlling laws would be laws of the countries themselves, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, South Sudan and others. Many are unstable and home to violent rebel groups and terrorists that illegally poach ivory to fund their activities.

These are the worst kind of criminals and should be stopped, but few countries dedicate the funding necessary to fight them. The destination for illegal ivory is the Far East: China, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand, where demand is high and officials turn a blind eye. Only an extremely small amount is even attempted to be smuggled into America.

Demonizing people who own legal ivory antiques, from before its importation was made illegal, is not an effective or even rational strategy to combat poaching and trafficking in Africa. It won’t work and it would make legal antiques worthless. It would make criminals out of honest people.

The logical solution should focus on interdiction. Finding, arresting and punishing poachers and traffickers. Foreign aid should be targeted at increasing efforts there, where the killing of elephants is taking place. That would work, it would be an effective, sensible and fair policy to address the real issue.

What was legally acquired should stay legal. Please read Initiative 1401 carefully. It is not what they say it is. Please vote NO.

This story was originally published October 11, 2015 at 1:29 AM with the headline "Vote NO on 1401."