If you're a serious musician, you no doubt heard about a raid on the Gibson guitar factory in Tennessee last year as well as previous raids on Gibson. The bottom line is that Gibson has come under government scrutiny for using wood that is not approved for export by the country of origin. In their previous raid, Gibson was found to not have violated the law.
The federal government has seized about $500,000 worth of wood used to make fingerboards and as you know, without a fingerboard, a guitar is little more than a paper weight.
Here is a snippet from a Human Events story regarding the Tennessee Congresswoman who is demanding answers from the Obama Administration as to why the job-creating Gibson Guitar Company is being targed:
The Tennessee congresswoman, in whose district many Gibson Guitar workers live, co-signed a Sept. 8 letter to three federal agencies that raided Gibson Aug. 24 demanding status on the government’s investigation.Regardless of how you feel about Gibson guitars, this should be a wake-up call and yes, musicians should get involved in the process of protecting and demanding freedom from an over-reaching government.
“Having armed federal agents raid an iconic American company is no way to inspire economic certainty and spur job creation,” said Rep. Marsha W. Blackburn (R.-Tenn.), the vice-chairman of the Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade sub-committee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The letter is part of Blackburn’s struggle to figure out why the administration is going after Gibson in such a heavy-handed manner, when there is significant question whether a crime has been committed, she said.
In 2008, the Lacey Act of 1900, which forbids the importation of items into the United States that are not approved for export by the country of origin, was amended to specifically focus federal law enforcement on imported woods.
An affidavit filed with the search warrant request, referred to the illegal importation of wood from India, which the letter also addresses: “The source country at issue, however, has no problem with Gibson’s actions. The deputy director general of foreign trade for India has stated that India would allow the export.”
DDM
