Feds raid the Gibson Guitar factories

[Maia Gabrial]

For those who are into guitars, particularly Gibson guitars, you might be interested in this piece of news. It's blatantly unfair....
The good news is that everyday, more and more injustices are being exposed....


Months after the Feds raided the Gibson Guitar factories in
Tennessee the government has still not leveled any charges against
the company.

Originally it was claimed that Gibson was using illegally purchased
wood from Madagascar and India to make their fret boards.

The Departments of Homeland Security and Fish & Wildlife raided the
factories, sent workers home, and confiscated wood materials, but
by not pressing any charges they are denying the company the chance
to defend itself in court and get their confiscated materials back.

Interestingly enough, another guitar company using the same wood
from the same sources was not raided, but then that company donates
money to the party in power.

Here's an update on the Great Gibson Guitar Raid...

Video:

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/9632.html

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[mountain_jim]

An excellent example of our corrupt government and legal system, filled with abuses of power.

Seizures without filed charges are the means to terrorize and extort our formerly free citizens and small businesses.

[Setras]

to be honest the best Gibsons are made in Mexico......

[ceetee9]

I didn't know anything about the Gibson raid. Good thing I bought my SG 40 years ago. I wonder if the DHS found any terrorists hiding in those guitars? Maybe that's why they had to involve the Fish and Wildlife department so they could fish out those dastardly terrorists hiding in the hollow bodies.

It's so refreshing to see our hard-earned tax dollars going to good use. :rolleyes:

[RMorgan]

Well, I love the Gibsons.

However, I must agree with the Feds this time.

Almost 100% of exotic woods used in guitar building is illegally extracted from developing countries, including my home, Brazil.

Believe it or not, it´s easier to find pieces of Brazilian woods like Rosewood, Gonçalo Alves and Pau Ferro in the USA than here, in fact, such woods are literally impossible to find here.

It´s already time for the USA government to do something about it indeed.

Besides, there are many amazing native tone woods in North-America, so instead of illegally devastating other countries forests, North-America should use their own woods to supply their own demands.

Cheers,

Raf.

[haibane]

However, I must agree with the Feds this time.


Besides this being old news, have you actually read the OP?

...

...
Interestingly enough, another guitar company using the same wood
from the same sources was not raided, but then that company donates
money to the party in power.
...
...

[mountain_jim]

My issue, as I assumed the below was true and have not researched since the original raid, is why no charges filed yet 6 months since raid, and why selective raids. I support protecting the rare wood and trees of other nations, but I mostly support the Rule of Law, and believe it is now terribly corrupted in the US.

Seizures without charges or your day in court is not The Rule of Law, in my opinion.



They...come in with weapons, they seized a half-million dollars worth of property, they shut our factory down, and they have not charged us with anything," says Gibson Guitars CEO Henry Juszkiewicz, referring to the August 2011 raid on his Nashville and Memphis factories by agents from the Departments of Homeland Security and Fish & Wildlife.

The feds raided Gibson for using an inappropriate tariff code on wood from India, which is a violation of the anti-trafficking statute known as The Lacey Act. At issue is not whether the wood in question was endangered, but whether the wood was the correct level of thickness and finish before being exported from India. "India is wanting to ensure that raw wood is not exported without some labor content from India," says Juskiewicz.




more from this article was here

http://reason.com/blog/2012/02/23/the-great-gibson-guitar-raid-months-late



Andrea Johnson of the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) counters that "it's not up to Gibson to decide which laws...they want to respect." She points out that Gibson had previously been raided under The Lacey Act for imports from Madagascar.

This much is clear: The government has yet to file any charges or allow Gibson a day in court to makes its case, much less retrieve its materials. "This is not about responsible forestry and sustainable wood or illegal logging, this is about a bureaucratic law," argues Juszkiewicz, who testified last year before a congressional hearing convened by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). It is, he says, "a blank check for abuse."

[pyrangello]

Yep they raided this place by the justice department , seized $500,000 in wood / materials and no charges have been filed and none will say why it was raided. Saw the CEO on the news the other day and everyone is just perplexed as to what happened and why nobody will give any answers. Its been 6 months since this happened and still no answers.

[EnergyGardener]

There is an imperial air of arrogance, impunity and evil that is increasing on a daily basis. It appears to be a large test to see at which level of discomfort humans will actually stop the game and say, we've reached our tolerance for this tyranny, it's time for you to go.

I reached mine when I realized 9/11 was planned by "our" side, second, when I realized who owned the Federal Reserve / B.I.S. and virtually everything else of our physical world. I have been convinced that knowledge (the truth) shall set us all free. Yet, that seems to be their test, to actually help us provide those asleep this information and the knowledge of their rule, to see if even then, we'll do something about it.