Watched a Rand Paul utube where he commented they are trying to repeal the Lacey act. With all the bad press from the Gibson raid, is it a good time to pressure our representatives to repeal the Lacey act?

Lacey act comment about 02:30-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...eZVc&feature=related

What ever they do, I hope they have some really good checks & controls on shipping endangered species & trophies. Any weaking of such controls will open the flood gates and we will see many marginal species pushed even closer to extinction. Immaging the likes of Dawie Gronwald and the Vietnamese rhino horn smuggelres having a free hand.

The honest and ethical sportmen will always follow his consience and do the right thing (at least most of the time). It is the unethical and scroupless ones who ruin it for everyone else.

Proud of my U.S. Senator from Kentucky.

I don't think the act is likely to be weakened, much less repealed. It has broad support. There was a lengthy article recently, out of the LA Times, I think, about the Gibson case. The writer did mention that the two raids on Gibson netted no charges. There was no explanation. The obvious reason would be that they found no wrongdoing on Gibson's part.

As described in the article, the issue was whether or not fret boards from India were in compliance with Lacey. The act requires that the materials be "finished". The Indian government had supplied a letter reporting that the export was legal. The materials were not 100% finished, as Gibson had to sand them and apply a sealer, wax, or some other finish.

Why our government chose to send in a SWAT team rather than simply investigate is beyond me. It certainly appears to be an abuse of authority. That was unfortunately not addressed in the article.

Obama probably discovered that Gibson didn't contribute to his campaign so wanted to make an example of him to scare others into bringing forth the "protection money" like any good Chicago thug would have them do.

Yeah I can't see Obummer signing off on that one...

I loved Chris Sells pix of Tanzania in the African Hunt Reports with all the locals wearing Obama gear... think we can export him for a repayment on some of the debt he has racked up since he has been the prez?

I seriously doubt that Obama even knows very much about the Lacey Act, much less involves himself with matters like the Gibson Guitar raid.

He's not the problem, it is the self-aggranizing blunderers in the Fish & Wildlife Service, the same ones who are the subject of the "Cry Wolf" film and are hurting the farm and hunting industries in the Western States. Someone needs to get them under control. I am hearing that Montana elk are in desperate shape.