by Edwin Locke

About the author: Edwin Locke is senior writer at the Ayn Rand Institute, a center for the advancement of rational thought, individualism, and capitalism.

Recently a sixth grade student threatened to bomb the headquarters of a prominent corporation, the Gillette Company. Gillette’s “crime”? The use of animals to test the safety of their products. This student’s role models have not been so hesitant. In the name of so-called “animal rights,” terrorists have committed hundreds of violent crimes. They have vandalized or fire-bombed meat companies, fur stores, fast-food restaurants, leather shops and medical research laboratories across North America. The animal “rights” movement, however, is not about the humane treatment of animals. Its goal is the animalistic treatment of human beings.

According to these terrorists, it is immoral to...