Senator says he wants to prevent government from seizing guitars at border

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., stated after a meeting Friday with music industry and wood import officials that he wants to prevent the government from seizing guitars made with banned wood when musicians travel to other countries to perform.

Artists are currently leaving their best guitars at home when they travel, unless they take paperwork with them that proves their instruments were not made with banned wood -- a provision of an amendment to the century-old Lacey Act which prevents the sale of feathers from rare birds.

Alexander, along with U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., co-sponsored an amendment in 2008 to the Lacey Act that would add the wood from certain forests around the world to the list of banned items.

But the manner in which the Obama Administration is interpreting the amended law is raising eyebrows and creating havoc for one guitar maker, Gibson Guitars of Nashville, Tenn.

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