There’s absolutely nothing to gain by gun registration. At least, not for gun owners. While gun grabbers may love and adore it, convinced that they have found the solution to crime–if they’re particularly deluded, that is–gun owners tend to understand that registering their guns doesn’t really do anything to make them safer.

But you know what it can do? Apparently, it can get you arrested when you try and comply with the law.

Last month, April, 2018, the California Department of Justice raided prominent Kern County Farmer, Jeffrey Scott Kirschenmann. The justification for the raid was pictures the farmer had sent to the Department of Justice in an attempt to register a rifle. The DOJ claimed the rifle was an illegally modified “Assault weapon”. During the raid, the DOJ confiscated 230 rounds of ammunition, a dozen guns, two objects claimed to be “silencers”, and some sort of trigger activator. There is reason to be wary of the accuracy of the claims of what was found during the raid. California law is very complex. California law enforcement officers have been known to make mistakes about what is an “assault weapon” and what is not. “Silencers” can only be determined with a test to see if the devices actually reduce the sound signature of a firearm. There are many fake look alike simulated “silencers” on the market. From kget.com: Retired KCSO Commander Joe Pilkington is a court recognized firearms expert. He could not speak directly to Kirschenmann’s case but says the laws are changing so frequently, it’s often hard to keep up with the latest regulations. “Just in the last few years, there have been lots of changes in gun laws,” he said. “Making an effort, a good faith effort to comply with these really complicated laws, should count for something.” A new state law requires assault-style weapons be registered by the end of June. Pilkington recommends anyone who isn’t sure about the process go through a federally licensed firearms dealer. For years, those who wish a disarmed population have told Second Amendment supporters that registration does not lead to confiscation. Second Amendment supporters have been repeatedly told “no one wants to confiscate your guns

Yep. We’ve been told that. Luckily, it seems most of us know that to be the bovine excrement that it is.

Of course it will lead to confiscation. Maybe not today or next year, but eventually, someone will knock on the door and want our guns. Of course, by “knock,” I could actually mean “kick it in.”

Still…

And Joe Pilkington is right. You can pick up fake suppressors for a very low price, all things considered. They’re purely for aesthetics, of course, but some can be made to make a rifle look like it’s actually a short-barrel rifle while still complying with the law. I know, I considered getting one at one time.

More importantly, though, is that California gun laws are clearly jacked up. How else would someone try to comply with the law and end up arrested? If the law was clear and he knew he had an illegal weapon–if he even did, mind you–he would have opted not to register it. Especially since he could have transported it to another state and sold it there legally. There was no reason for him to risk it.

Which is ample evidence in my mind that he didn’t know he was breaking any law, in my mind. Again, if he knew, why did he try to register it.

There’s a saying that ignorance of the law is no defense, which I get. I really do.

Yet at some point, there has to be a line. If men and women can be arrested when they’re clearly trying to not break the law, then what hope does any law-abiding citizen have? There’s a theory that the average person goes through life committing something like three felonies per day. I don’t know how accurate that is, but I have little difficulty believing that we break laws all the time without realizing it.

In a case like this, a man’s life basically hangs in the balance because of what, at its worst, is a misunderstanding.

There’s nothing right about that.