Gibson Guitars proves the environmental police state that wants your wood products and guns

The recent US government raid of Gibson Guitars’ Tennessee manufacturing facility is now receiving widespread media coverage, thanks to a flood of reports that have appeared across the web in recent weeks, including here atNaturalNews.

But beyond simply the raid itself is the reality of the new environmental police state that appears to be taking over, where personal wood products of all kinds — whether they be furniture, hand tools, or even guns made with rare wood stocks — are now threatened with arbitrary confiscation.

As we mentioned previously, the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) use of the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Lacey Act of 2008 to invoke the Gibson raid sets a chilling precedent for the environmental police to go after others, including ordinary individuals, who may possess wood products deemed unacceptable, even if such wood products were obtained legally.

You see, Gibson’s import of rosewood and ebony from India was not illegal under either US or Indian law. FWS merely decided to interpret Indian law in its own illogical way, and invoke the Lacey Act as justification for its illegal raid. And if the agency gets away with doing this to Gibson, they will surely do it again to others.