If one side supports something, the other will vote against it just because. I'll keep my opinions on a two party system to myself, but as an example, if the GOP put a reptile ban forward, the Dems would fight it because the GOP put it forward. If the Dems put forth something reducing restrictions on reptiles, the GOP would fight it because it's the Dems.

That being said, I get it, I understand why there have to be laws when it comes to imported species. Some morons released a bunch of burms in the Everglades, now they have a big problem. Here in Georgia we have a wild population of Argentine black and white tegus that the state is trying to deal with, because people released them when they got too big. Some of these issues can be solved by responsible breeders and pet stores. If a pet store has the conversation with a potential Tegu buyer "hey just so you know, this thing is gonna get 4 foot long, this is the type of enclosure you need, do you have the space, can you do this?"

Politicians are the number 1 issue sure, but we have to do a better job policing ourselves as well. My local reptile shop knows me, knows what I keep, and knows how long I've been keeping. If I walk in there today and try to buy a BP they're still going to have a conversation with me about it anyway. Every shop needs to adopt that attitude, and of course once the animal leaves the store there's nothing they can do about the keeper, but at least they did their due diligence and made sure that people are being educated before walking out the door.