The Washington Post reports on an issue this space began covering more than two years ago, the near-impossible conditions being placed on musicians traveling internationally with musical instruments, typically decades or even centuries old, that incorporate small amounts of ivory.
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But, of course, WaPo won’t be impolitic enough to juxtapose this nonsense with the porous border in the South, nor will it juxtapose the ruthless reading of the applicable statutes in ways Congress could not have possibly intended with the “established by a State” legerdemain being done now.
It is much easier and safer for the government agents to hound classical musicians than to go after real criminals.
I’m still trying to get an ivory-free “Gaveau” imported from a rebuilder in the Netherlands who restores them. He’s had problems with pianos being crudely and severely damaged by customs, even when they’re shipped without the action in place (to be shipped separately) and all sorts of documentation and paperwork about any and all original ivory removed and replaced with synthetic. It’s been about a year’s delay so far.