I’d like to think that the majority of us would never step on a little hamster, kitten, guinea pig, or other small animal just for the fun of it—or to sell it to people who supposedly get off on such things. I would love to believe this. It would help me sleep better at night. Sadly, I cannot believe this, since the practice continues to occur—and I cannot believe that there is virtually nothing being done to stop it, either.

There was a law in place, known as the “Crush Act,” that did just this. Established in 1999, the law banned the sale, creation, and possession of any materials that depict animal cruelty. Even I, an animal rights supporter, can see where this goes wrong. If you’re found to have photos of animal cruelty on your hard drive, for example, from just looking at a site like PETA (which often displays such photos in order to educate, disturbing as they are), you’re obviously not a criminal who’s out to kill little animals. Still, that would be possession of animal cruelty images, right?

That’s why the Supreme Court recently struck the law down. People can obviously Photoshop images—such as the infamous kittens in bottles, or bonsai kittens—and create “art” that doesn’t portray actual acts of animal cruelty. I’ve actually heard of this line of defense being used in other cases—such as adults being Photoshopped as children to create “legal” child pornography—and think it’s a pretty sick thing to do, too.

Anyhow, now that the Crush Act has been struck down, there are both negative and positive opportunities for us to take. On the negative side, people can create these crush videos—videos of small live animals being crushed to death under high heels just for people’s amusement and even, scarily enough, for sexual arousal—without much fear of repercussion these days. And creating these videos, of course, means the killing of the animals, which just turns my stomach.

On the plus side, however, the door is open to create new legislation that specifically outlaws the murder of the animals with new language that doesn’t infringe on freedom of speech.

Please sign the ASPCA’s call for the U.S. House of Representatives to draft such a bill soon. Let them know that though free speech is important, so is the prevention of cruelty to animals, and that we don’t want to see defenseless creatures—most of them meant to be loved, protected pets—killed for entertainment.