Within the past few months the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has begun seizing and destroying legally owned antique pre-ban ivory under the false assumption that by doing so they are protecting the endangered elephant. These antique items were created before the ban and have been considered legal for years. The elephants involved have been dead for a hundred years or more. Eighteenth and nineteenth century ivory carvings mo more endanger the modern elephant than crushing a 1950's Cadillac endangers the auto industry.
This is not a petition to legalize modern (post-ban) ivory. However what this is is a petition to allow legal ownership of those pieces of pre-ban ivory that has always been legal to own.