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Lawmaker battles animal abuse bill
A rural state lawmaker stalled action on legislation cracking down on animal abusers Thursday after regaling colleagues with tales of using his shotgun to “powder” the rears of his own “amorous bull” and his neighbor’s dog.
Rep. Frank Buck (D-Dowelltown), a member of the House since 1973, successfully had legislation creating an online registry of animal abusers delayed for a week on the floor of the House Thursday.
Buck did that after saying there was a “cultural problem” between lawmakers from rural and urban areas on what actually constituted animal abuse.
“I have some concern about some of the city folks who have never lived in the country and don’t understand how animals are and the things you have to do sometimes to make them behave,” Buck said.
Apparently, Buck, who is retiring from the House, has his own method.
On the House floor, Buck told two stories about how he had used his own shotgun to “powder” the rears of his own “amorous” bull, which had gotten out of his fence and was looking for love, and a neighbor’s dog who was chasing his cows.
“I have taken the shotgun, rather than kill the neighbor’s dog, ya know, I don’t get any pleasure out of shooting somebody’s dog,” Buck said. “My neighbor’s children love that old dog, but he’s out there chasing my old cows.
“You know, at the time, beef was very, very high, and I have powdered his behind. I didn’t kill him, but he yelped and went back to where he came from. And he learned a lesson from that.”
In another instance, Buck said his “amorous” bull, despite having 10 cows “at home to take care of,” escaped through a hole in the fence trying to be an “infidel with my neighbor’s heifers.”
Buck chased the bull for three hours but then gave up and got his shotgun.
“Now, it ain’t very nice ladies and gentlemen, but a rural practice, it works, and after about a half a day I got tired of chasing that bull and I went back to the house and got my shotgun and my bird shot,” Buck said. “And I put a load in his rear end.”
Some lawmakers applauded Buck after his cow shooting story.
Buck made the comments one day after he had voted against a bill making cockfighting a felony.
Leighann McCollum, the Tennessee director of The Humane Society of the United States, said Buck’s actions were “inappropriate,” but acknowledged it was a “common practice” in rural areas to use buckshot to scare animals.
“I encourage Rep. Buck to re-consider these rash statements,” McCollum said. “He deserves better than this for his legacy to be defending cockfighters and people who shoot dogs.”
The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Janis Sontany (D-Nashville), would create an online database of convicted animal abusers, similar to the one for sexual predators.
Sontany said many sexual predators and serial killers started out abusing animals.
“Why would you want to know if there was an animal abuser in your neighborhood?” Sontany asked rhetorically. “Because, that can lead to child abuse, that can lead to domestic violence. Those are proven facts.”
Rep. Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald) was concerned about animal abuse registry members having their future negatively affected by being on the list.
“I don’t want to see animals abused, but I’m just concerned with someone young, or 18, 19, a prank and then being on the list,” Hensley said. “It’s going to affect their jobs.”
Hensley’s comments brought a swift rebuke from Rep. Mike Turner (D-Old Hickory), who said abusing an animal was “not a prank” but “serious business.”
“This is a clear cut bill,” Turner said. “You’re either on the side of Jeffrey Dahmer and the animal abusers or you’re on the side of decent human beings.”
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Janis Sontany is awesome. Go Janis!!!!
It would be great if Buck retires. To think that he, and people like him, are making, or not making in this case, our laws is embarrassing. Obviously he has very little understanding of animals after “years” of being around them, and like animal abusers that go on to humans, he has little understanding of what humans need either. But he sure enough knows how to use his shotgun. Makes me proud to be a Tennessean!!!
I'm sure he thinks children need a good beating every now and then too.
I bet they STAY in the fence!!!
I'm sickened by genuine animal abuse, but TN laws already undermine human rights. You're Foolish to think that laws are going to prevent sociapathic psycho's from hurting animals or people. What these laws will accomplish is to demonize good people for defending their families from dangerous animals. Don't let radical animal rights fanatics bully reasonable people with cheap scare tactics and emotional theatrics. Comparing Jeffrey Dhamer to someone who shoots a stray dog is dishonest. Thank God at least Rep. Buck has a grip on common sense.
Can't wait to see Granny's picture on the registry because she had six cats and didn't change their litter box often enough.Ooops - that's a Metro law, not a state law.
How does shooting an animal w/bird shot (for the purpose of repremanding it) make is OK in the first place? If you're putting it down because it's uncontrollable or rabid or sick, maybe, but if your desire is merely to curtail it's behavior....? Sorry, but his gray area is convoluted at best. And I know my great grandfather did these things on his ranch in Texas back then, but golly gee, that was 80+ years ago. There are other options now. duh
NoBull – Bad pun, but O’Reilly would be proud. Wouldn’t expect someone who can’t come up with something on their own to get the point of this law, and you are thinking like dragon, which is a bad thing in anybody’s book. Part of this law is to keep up with those that abuse animals, think about the 5 boys that set the dog in fire last year, and recognize what they are doing. I am sure that being the intelligent person you are, you would want to know about these guys before you hire them wouldn’t you? Oh, no, I forgot, it was just a dog.There is RARELY a reason to shoot a stray dog, I know that I have never felt the need to. If, as the “superior being” that we are supposed to be, and your only conclusion is to shoot a stray dog, well that about says it all for that point.And here is a new point for some of you to struggle with, sometimes it is not about you, it is about the animals. GASP!!!!! How is this law about the animals you ask? Simple, it will alert those that may hire these people, or use them in a volunteer basis, that theses people have a HISTORY of not being able to deal with animals, and most likely not with people.
My point, lou, was that even good intentioned laws can have bad consequences. One such fact is that neither the TN nor Metro codes defines "abuse". They address animal cruelty. Secondly, most people, including the pols voting on the bill, are ignorant of the current laws. That's why I brought up the point of six cats vs five cats in the Metro codes.It's a "feel good" law. Those are, many times, the most dangerous.
In defense of shooting bad dogs, I was viciously attacked by a dog (in my front yard) in the middle of the afternoon and I was only 8 years old. Never mind that I screamed for more than 10 minutes as this "friendly" dog ripped flesh from my little legs... and no one came to my defense. They were all at work, and the babysitter was at her house, several doors down from ours, unable to hear my screams. You couldn't have stopped this dog, even with brute force, because it had lost its mind at the moment. If I had witnessed the same thing happening to my 3 year old, yes, I would have shot the dog, even it was our Beagle. Kids come first, and especially if their lives and health are at risk. Period. Hey, I'm a good parent.
Why aren't they addressing the puppy mills in this bill? Good golly, you'd think that one would have been on their radar.
To say that I am appalled by the heartless comments of Rep. Frank Buck and Rep. Joey Hensley condoning animal abuse would be a tremendous understatement. With a wealth of documented facts that prove that an individual who abuses animals will most likely repeat that abuse with humans, many times in the form of child abuse and domestic abuse, it is chilling to read how two of our lawmakers dismiss those facts because they are from the "country." Rep. Hensley even went as far as to say that animal abuse many times is nothing more than a youthful prank. Was it a "youthful prank" when recently a group of teenage boys in Nashville poured gasoline on a dog and then set the dog on fire? Was it a prank when 2 idiots kicked a dog named Gizmo to death, treating the dog like a football?Rep. Buck has announced he will not be seeking re-election this year. For all of the animals, whether in the country or in the city, this is wonderful news. The only thing that would make that announcement any better is if Rep. Hensley ( a physician by vocation) would follow suit.
Dragon – Sorry if you don’t understand that neglect is abuse, although I think you may be exaggerating a little with Granny’s cat box! (sarcasm off). Like child abuse/neglect, animal abuse/neglect takes many forms. Will this law stop animal abuse? No more so than any law stops anything. Some people will NOT do something for fear, some people will not do it whether or not there is a law, and some will do what ever the hell they want. This is just another tool to try and help humans understand how stupid they are.But I say that saltpeter was often used to rid ones fields of “pesky kids”, cause like the “Buckmister” says “it don’t kill them, just scares them”. But I dare say that if that tactic was used today, the person on the butt end of the gun would face some serious problems in the legal realm. This is a step in that direction for animals as well. To bad so many of you don’t get it, nor care.
Do we really NEED more registries? Isn’t this just another step in neighbor abuse? This bill, laughingly, states that such a registry should not “be used inflict retribution or additional punishment on those abusers”, but we know that it will be. This is just a further step in the process of “fear & loathe thy neighbor”.I stand next to no one in my hatred of animal abuse, and I cannot understand why anyone would vote against a bill that would turn cockfighting into a felony, but I cannot agree w/ Mike Turner’s silly absolutism, and his sanctimoniousness that he represents “decent human beings”. It is demeaning, illogical, & downright stupid to equate animals w/ people, and, while our state is deeply in the red, when we really need to find further sources of revenue so that we can help our poorest citizens, we are wasting time on a bill creating another registry of ex-cons.These registries are a glib substitute for truly examining the justice system & the penal system. If we had a fairer justice system—rather than one that harasses the poor, the ethnic & racial minorities, and the disadvantaged—, if we spent the funds to reform our penal system, making it truly a correctional system, AND if we had greater incentives to hire ex-convicts & if we restored all their rights to them upon their parole, THEN we would have less recidivism & more productive citizens.
revo that would be rock salt & at close range even it can kill.
violence begets violence regardless of its form.
there's a big difference between setting a dog on fire because you are a cruel, mean-spirited kid, and shooting a dog because it is tearing the flesh from a child's legs. i'm pretty sure a judge will be able to tell that the former is abuse and the latter is defense. and if i were in the position to hire someone, i would want to know if he/she set a dog on fire. their explanation of their complicity and how they were affected by the event would directly influence my decision. it matters.
tv - Rock salt, saltpeter, I have heard of both being used, fortunately I was never on the receiving end of it. Most times it was not at that close of a range, but for sure, too close could easily kill.MJB – You are right in that it is stupid to equate animals and people, but it happens all the time. I don’t think the animals mind too much, no matter how insulting it is.
Hey, matahari understands, some of you just need to pay a little bit more attention to the world.
i personally would never insult my dogs like that, revo!
Mr. Buck is yet another example of the lack of quality in way too many members of our state legislature, but again why are we not voting out these incumbents who every day seem to embarass themselves and the state. I also completely agree with matahari that a judge and/or jury would certainly be able to distinguish between animal abuse and self defense of a child being attacked.
Isn't that cute, the animal righters are equating animals with children. Tisk, tisk. The predator registration law is marginally tolerable (ask the "sicko" who had sex with his 17 year old girlfriend when he was 18) but a registration of people who are mean to animals is BS. I can barely stand the clucking hens/busybodies in my neighborhood already without giving them a whole other list of innocent people they need to "worry" about"
"19541
Afraid you might be on the list Jeffery?You should be, as it appears you have the mentality to get there very easily.
Revo-lou, et al. Torturing animals is a RESULT of a mental disease not the CAUSE of it. The way these politicians state the "facts" is misleading re: cause and effect. You won't be able to stop sociopaths by putting them on a website as youths. Its a flawed concept. I am for anything that will actually work, but I'm against all these short-sighted laws with potentially unforseen consequences.
Yee-HAW politics rears its ugly head again. No fan of Washington Repubs, I tend to vote for them in state legislative contests because the Dems in the state legislature are often even worse.
Bull – The problem is that we can’t legislate people to get the help they need. This law, as with most other laws, is to deal with it on the back side. Since most laws can’t be written to specific, they have to be a little broad based, there are sometimes unintended downsides to them. It would be easier to deal with those situations when they arise, than to make the law to hard to enforce. Remember though, no law is needed until the level of stupidity is so high that the action can no longer be tolerated.