Gibson Raid

I’ll make this one short, but I just stumbled onto some articles about Gibson guitar company being raided by U.S. Marshals over their importation of exotic rosewood and ebony.  Apparently, the company uses it for the fret boards, and the trade of this wood is heavily restricted, as it is considered scarce.

From what I have read so far, it seems that most other guitar companies will use these woods, too.  Gibson was raided before in 2009 and is still fighting a legal battle over that raid.  Additionally, a government brief given to them at some point during those legal proceedings informed them that they ought to just move production to Madagascar.  Wow.

Now, I will freely admit that I know very little about importing scarce wood, but by all accounts, it seems like Gibson has been in compliance with the laws of the countries from which it imports, as well as the U.S. import laws.  I’m also mildly concerned that the U.S. government has nothing better to do than harass a company which employees hundreds of Americans and makes fine, hand-crafted instruments from good materials.  Even more disconcerting is that the government has basically told them to get out!

This is tyrannical and an unnecessary harassment of a company that, unlike many, actually wants to stay home and provide jobs to its own citizens!  Incredible.

Here is an article from The Financial Times, or you can just Google it.  There are many articles about this ridiculousness.