The Guitar Police

Gibson is being investigated for violations of the Lacey Act, which was originally authored over a century ago to prevent trading of illegal animals and plants that have been illegally sold. Whether or not they’ve been “illegally” sold is determined by the laws of the country of origin for the plants and animals, and the Lacey Act is applicable only when a foreign law has been violated. For its part, Gibson insists that the confiscated wood used by the company comes “from a Forest Stewardship Council certified supplier and is FSC Controlled, meaning that the wood complies with the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council, which is an industry-recognized and independent, not-for-profit organization established to promote responsible management of the world’s forests.” Further, the company observes that the Lacey Act “reads that you are guilty if you did not observe a law even though you had no knowledge of that law in a foreign country.” Ignorance of the law may be no defense, but ignorance of the laws governing the harvesting of rosewood in a remote province of Eastern India (which may require that finishing be done by Indian rather than American workers) hardly seems like an excuse for a federal raid. Gibson, like the proud American company it is, refuses to back down in the face of federal overreach...more