It goes with any form of domesticated animal attack. Dog attacks kid? Oh no, the dog must be vicious and therefore put down! Nevermind that the parents left the two alone and the dog was defending itself because the kid decided to yank its ear/cause pain.

The reason why snakes get such a bad rap is because all through history they've been deemed evil. Not to mention, a lot of people can't understand how reptile keepers can find some 'gross and slimy' cute. Yes, I actually had someone tell me that she thought snakes were slimy. -insert eyeroll here-

While I agree with requiring permits/education in order to own the large pythons/hots (people who want to look cool aren't going to go through the trouble that a dedicated reptile owner will), banning is obviously not the solution. The only thing that we can really do, is the same we did for HR669: send out mass e-mails and call the legislators. This is especially true for those who live in florida or have relatives/friends in florida who support your hobby.

Worse comes to worse, we can do another call in like what happened during the HR669 bit. Block the lines and all that; let em know that we won't stand for this.