No one wants to see a family member fed into the foster care machine. While many foster parents are good, loving people who merely want to help children have a better life, the horror stories are out there. Stories of people who are involved in foster care for the money —or who neglect and abuse the kids in their charge — have a chilling effect on families in the system.

So it’s not surprising that a medically retired Marine and his wife want to take in their grandson rather than see him exposed to that system. It’s what most grandparents would do if they could, right?

However, leave it to the state to make it a pain in the rear. Couple that with a judge arguing that if the Marine wants his grandson, he has to give up some of his constitutional rights, and then try to tell me government makes everything better.

The Johnsons were going to take custody of their grandson to keep him from going into foster care. When they went to pick up their grandson, William, a retired, disabled Marine with a Concealed Pistol License (CPL), was searched for a firearm. He was not carrying a firearm at the time. At that point, agency officials told the Johnsons that they would be required to provide all firearms’ serial numbers to the agency as part of a registry. When Johnson questioned agency workers, he was given a surprising response. “If you want to care for your grandson you will have to give up some of your constitutional rights,” a MDHHS worker retorted. When the Johnsons appeared before a Gogebic County Court judge, the judge reiterated the agency worker’s statement. “We know we are violating numerous constitutional rights here, but if you do not comply, we will remove the boy from your home,” the judge said.

The judge, someone trained in the law, knows they’re violating constitutional rights but clearly doesn’t care. They’re just pesky rights, after all. None of that matters before the wisdom of the state.

Except for the fact that constitutional rights are specifically enumerated, so the state can’t override them on a whim.

Unfortunately, the Johnsons found out otherwise. Officials, believing they know better, will ignore any rule they want because they have the power. William Johnson has two choices outside of the lawsuit he’s filed. He can either comply, thus reinforcing the behavior of the agency, or he can refuse and lose custody of his grandson.

For anyone who cares about family, the answer is kind of a no-brainer, but it shouldn’t be that way. Shame on the bureaucrats and officials who feel it’s right to do this to a family because of their own political bigotry toward an inanimate object.