This actually occured. A while back in South Florida, a man was convicted of drug possession, (nothing new) he lost his gun rights. Now heres where it got tricky. The man had moved from Kalifornia a year prior. He had registered a firearm in Kalifornia.  Then, he was convicted and lost his gun rights. Well, a little while later the ATF discovered that gun registration and secured a warrant based only on that a year before he was convicted he had a legally registered firearm. The ATF agents kicked in his door and threw tear gas into his house. They then took him out at gunpoint. The house was ransacked. Afterwards the ATF called it a successfull raid. They were proudly waving a small bag (A couple of joints worth) of Marijuana. But they never mentioned the gun. In fact, they never found it. He had gotten rid of it when he was convicted. He may have done pot, but he wanted to stay within the law. As a habitual drug user, he was banned from owning a gun. The only evidence was that he had previously registered it in Kalifornia. The ATF tore his home apart only to find a small bag of pot (simple Possession.) Give me a break. This is what'll happen when registration goes national. Homes will be raided and ransacked and honest people will be the victims.

No link, saw it in a short news mention on TV a while back.

Those are VERY important questions.....

Do you know what is scary? According to recent decisions, a felon does not have to register a firearm. As that act violates their 5th amendment right to self incrimination.
I am against the drugs, but the registration is a bad thing in this case. It would be interesting to know more about the case as to why the ATF is interested in him?

I'm with TheWind here.  The politicians claim the registration is necessary to protect the public from criminals.  Criminals won't register, because they know they're criminals.  The courts have ruled that criminals cannot be charged with a violation of that law because of the 5th amendment, so we're left with laws that can only be used to turn law abiding citizens into criminals.  That's the counterproductive result of most feel good or zero tolerance laws.  If the politicians were really interested in fighting crime, why do they continue to push for registration schemes when they know they can't be used to fight career criminals?  Gun ownership is being slowly criminalized.  If you ever wondered how the jews felt in the 30's, look in the mirror.

I deal with criminals everyday. There is only one thing that gets to them....going to jail.  They are even ok with getting their ass kicked. It is part of their life. We need to make it real bad for the new up and coming criminals to give them a choice...live straight or die in a cell.

In jail they expect to get their asses kicked. It is sad but true. This can be from otherr inmates. Someone takes a swing or calls them a name, they fight. Not fighting and you are a coward. Then all the other inmates take your stuff.
As for COs they expect us to beat them up. It used to be that way, Hey CO, you was doing your job when you gave me a black eye. I prefer to use my pen. They hate that even more.  Oh they took 30 days good time? Or that was consecutive the judge gave you....no parole on the 12 year sentence, sorry

As for dying in a cell, that is from old age. And sad as it seems I often deal with families. Had the father, kid, uncle, and mom locked up at the same time.

I think you guys are missing the real point. What do you think it costs to stage a raid and then take the guy to court and get a conviction?
Its a waste of the taxpayers money to go after little guys like this. The ATF and the other Alphabete agencies just do shit like this to generate media attention. [red] GET ALOT OF BUSTS AND YOU GET A BIG BUDGET!!![/red]
Its not about enforcing the laws or keeping our steets safe any more. Its all about getting the Money!!!
The fools who buy into the keep our steets safe and put more criminals in jail are blind to the facts.
The only true means to keep the steets safe is keep yourself safe. Refuse to be a victim of crime.
And I won't get started on what I think of the war on drugs but I will say this.
You can't win a war you are not totally committed to fight and win at all costs!!!!!
We should have learned that lesson from past experience.