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Book Nook provides readers with insights into the world of books. Vick Mickunas takes you into the center of the publishing world with the latest book buzz, book reviews, and exclusive chats with authors..Home > Blogs > Book Nook > Archives > 2007 > August > 21 > Entry
Vick to cockfighting to Amazon.com
The NFL star Michael Vick has been earning many unwanted headlines for his involvement with dogfighting. He could be sentenced to prison for this unsavory behavior. The attention that has been brought to bear on Vick has helped to bring some animal cruelty issues into sharper focus.
One related matter could have an adverse impact on the mega-bookseller Amazon.com. According to a press release from The Humane Society of the United States :
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) filed an amended complaint in federal court in the District of Columbia against Amazon.com, asserting that the online retailer’s sale of two cockfighting magazines — The Feathered Warrior and The Gamecock — violates a new federal law that strengthens the Animal Welfare Act by making certain animal fighting activities a felony.
The suit, which was filed in February, originally alleged that Amazon.com’s sale of the magazines, which are mail-order catalogs for illegal cockfighting weapons and fighting birds — violates state law and the misdemeanor provisions of the Animal Welfare Act, which is the nation’s core animal protection law. In response, Amazon.com has filed papers arguing it has a constitutional right to sell animal fighting paraphernalia.
“Amazon’s decision to peddle illegal animal fighting paraphernalia is bad enough, but its decision to disobey and attempt to nullify a key provision of the federal Animal Welfare Act is patently outrageous,” said Wayne Pacelle, HSUS president and CEO. “There is no constitutional right to engage in criminal activity, and Amazon should stop being the exclusive online vendor for an industry that perpetrates such blatant animal cruelty.”
On May 3, President Bush signed the federal Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act of 2007, which makes it a felony to use “any interstate instrumentality for commercial speech for purposes of promoting or in any other manner furthering an animal fighting venture.” The law also makes it a felony to buy or sell cockfighting weapons such as gaffs and knives, which are widely advertised in the publications.
The Internet seller’s defiance of the federal animal protection law, and its defense of two trade publications that sell fighting birds, fighting dogs, blood-clotting drugs, and weapons designed exclusively for illegal cockfighting, has confounded consumers, animal protection advocates, and legal scholars nationwide.
If you go to Amazon.com you’ll find these magazines are still available for sale. What do you think? Should Amazon stop selling them? Would you consider a boycott of Amazon.com if they continue to sell these publications?
Is this a free speech issue?
(Frankly, I’m fairly disgusted each morning when I see yet another headline proclaiming that VICK IS A JERK! Enough already).
I have my first coffee and I realize yet again that they are talking about that other Vick—the dog abuser.
Then I give my dog Maisie a little scratch behind her ears. She likes that.
Send me an e-mail! vick@vickmickunas.com
Vick Mickunas
Permalink | Comments (5) | Categories: in the Amazone
Comments
By Barbara Delaney
August 24, 2007 3:22 PM | Link to this
Charles, the difference is this: those things you named are all being talked about and written about, nobody’s disputing the right to do that. The difference is the magazines in question carry ads for live animals to be shipped to buyers to be tortured and killed. Therein lies the difference. Can you not see the difference? Free speech? By all means! I’m fine with them talking about how glorious these people find it to watch one pit bull ripping out the throat of the other, it’s marginally less repulsive to me than reading Ann Coulter’s disjointed ramblings, but selling live animals for purposes of fighting, which is against the law, should not be condoned by Amazon.By vick mickunas
August 24, 2007 2:02 PM | Link to this
OK, Charles, thanks for addressing the free speech component of this debate. Now, if you are going to play the devil’s advocate here, where do we draw the line, if anywhere? The OJ Simpson book about how he “did it” is about to be published. Some bookstores are refusing to carry it. Would it be OK by you if Amazon was selling books about how to blow up federal office buildings with Ryder trucks filled with fertilizer?? How about guides on how to hijack commercial jets and fly them into skyscrapers? What would you think about them selling a guide for pedophiles to find spots where vulnerable children can be found?? What do you think, Charles? I’m all for free speech. That is exactly what we are having right now.By Charles Stough
August 24, 2007 1:38 PM | Link to this
Does Amazon sell books about roulette and poker? Yes, even though it’s illegal in many states. Bullfighting? Yes, and illegal in every state. Making beer? Illegal in many states and counties. Even while being appalled by gambling, cockfighting or bullfighting, as well as bad beer, in every state we should defend the right of anyone in the world to write, publish or read what they please.By Cathy
August 22, 2007 3:50 PM | Link to this
There can’t be a huge profit in these magazines, so it’s puzzling to me why Amazon would take such a hard stand on an issue where they know they are going to generate controversy, along with a very good chance of losing customers over it. I mean, they did drop the OJ book after all the complaints, why take a hard line with this offensive and illegal business?By Barbara Delaney
August 22, 2007 12:36 AM | Link to this
Amazon frames this debate as a free speech issue. While I find this activity reprehensible I do agree that people should be free to write and talk about it. The difference lies in the fact that these magazines carry ads enabling people to buy these birds. Shipping these birds across state lines is illegal. Cockfighting is illegal in 49 of 50 states. In places where this “sport” flourishes illegal gambling and drug sales are invariably found. Why does Amazon want to be associated with the criminal underclass? Do they really read that much?