Update: Gibson Guitar Raid

[Scott Fraser]

He was able to say something to the effect (to the best of my recollection) that what Gibson is saying happened, did happen the way they told it. The way Henry pretty much said.

 

And keep in mind the Roshomon effect.

[Fumblyfingers]

And keep in mind the Rashomon effect.

 

Is that where 4 people go and see an Akira Kurosawa movie, at the same time, and they all walk out the theater having seen a different film?

[Scott Fraser]

And keep in mind the Rashomon effect.

 

Is that where 4 people go and see an Akira Kurosawa movie, at the same time, and they all walk out the theater having seen a different film?

 

One person hated the film's left wing bias, another person hated the film's right wing bias, the third hated the lack of bias, & the fourth person isn't convinced the film was actually shown.

[trimmerman]

The Lacey act is going to kill manufacturing of anything made of wood in the USA. It's a bad law all the way around. It should be scrubbed.

[Dr. Ellwood]

The Lacey act is going to kill manufacturing of anything made of wood in the USA. It's a bad law all the way around. It should be scrubbed.

 

+1

[S. Yeti Bigfoot, Esq.]

I don't think the concept of the law is bad, it's just very poorly written and enforcement is abysmal. It should, in fact, be scrubbed and replaced with something that will actually allow businesses to continue to do their business and still protect the species of trees that actually need protecting. One of the problems with it is that when a species is protected, generally it is protected across it's entire range, whether it needs to be or not. If there are pockets of Brazil where Brazillian Rosewood is not in trouble, then why not allow a controlled harvest in those areas and stop harvest from the areas where it actually is in trouble? That allows the harvesters themselves to continue to exploit their resources and it allows the end users to continue to ply their trades while still protecting the species. Then, when the resource is depleted to a level where harvest needs to be stopped in a particular area, stop it only in that area. It's not like trees are nomadic creatures or anything. It's easy to clearly delineate problem areas from areas that have healthy, harvestable populations and really would require no more field work than is already (allegedly) being done. BTW...I'm only using Braz as an example to illuminate a point. I'm not saying there are pockets of healthy populations of Braz, so I don't need a bunch of people "correcting" me on the health of Brazillian Rosewood populations.

 

The law should be written in a fashion where there is no room for interpretation, and enforcement tactics should be governed by strict rules and regulations. There is no need for or room for jack-booted armed raids on a business like Gibson, and in the event of a siezure they should be absolutely required to present a list of all charges immediately at the scene, at the time of the siezure.

 

These laws, unfortunately, are essentially written by the agencies that will be charged with enforcing them. Not a good thing. They aren't actually written by Dept of Interior/USFWS, but the legislators that draft them do so only with input from Dept. of Interior/USFWS and nobody else, so they are written with totalitarianism and ease of enforcement in mind, not reality, fairness, or balance. IMHO that should change.

 

Some sort of regulation in the trade of endangered and threatened flora and fauna is absolutely necessary, but this is so poorly designed and executed as to be worse than the problem it was supposed to solve.