Idiot DFG!

[1lostinspace]

I dont believe qualified immunity would cover the officer in this case. Due to McDonald gun rights cases have civil rights protections.

Qualified immunity doesnt protect government officials from civil rights violations.

it does not when it comes to the second amendment! You should rape them
and get paid for it!

[till44]

Hold on folks... You're all up in arms because the OP had his rifle returned the day after, with no other ill effects? Yea, it should not have been seized in the first place, if it was a legally configured legally owned and possessed AR-pattern rifle. We all agree on that. But for craps sake, a mistake was fixed, in VERY short order, and you still want to hang the guy out to dry? Take into consideration the fact that each and EVERY one of you has made mistakes too. I know I sure as heck have. You think this officer doesn't now know a whole heckuva lot more about OLL and ARs and such? I bet he does. The OP didn't get tossed in jail, didn't have to pay for a lawyer to regain his personal legally owned property, and the officer now knows what is allowed.

Yea, if the rifle was legally configured, it shouldn't have happened in the first place. BUT, it was quickly remedied and an officer was educated. Sucks that it had to happen that way, and that the OP was temporarily deprived of his firearm, but it sure appears to be an honest mistake that was quickly fixed. No point in calling for the officer to be fired or otherwise destroy his life. I do think that the OP should be reimbursed for his time and costs incurred to recover the rifle. Who knows if that will happen. I don't think that mistakes are inforgiveable. There's a huge difference between maliciously seizing someones property because the officer wants to, and seizing an item that an officer mistakenly believes is part of or connected to a crime. It can't be easy, or even possible, to know every nuance of every bound book of laws and codes and regulations out there. No freaking way. I bet we all break laws every day that we don't know exist. And I bet if you got cited for something that you had been doing every day for twenty years you would freak out about it and say the cop was out to get you because you didn't even know it was a law. He made a mistake. Demand that everyone in his squad or county or whatever goes through a 2 hour firearms laws training course so that it doesn't happen again. That would be a whole heckuva lot more effective than stringing him up as some "example" and furthering the "us vs. them" mentality that is so prevalent out there.

One thing I really do wish is that more LEO around the state realized that long guns don't have to be registered. I've had that turn into an issue two or three times.

Couldn't have said it better. Unfortunate and a pain for the OP, but it was an easily made mistake. Most LEOs, despite carrying a gun for a living are not gun nuts, and know little more than the workings of their own sidearms, and usually less concerning CA gun laws, which we can all agree are confusing and lacking in logic.

I think a letter to the dept. requesting an apology and also some material to educate the rest of the department/agency would accomplish the most. Suing the state or even the officer will go nowhere and cost you too much money. Officers are protected under statute when they make innocent mistakes such as this, the courts will look at the big picture, see that the officer corrected the problem quickly and he will get a reprimand, nothing more. No harm, no foul right. Plus, suing the cops just polarizes them, as soon as a case comes up where some civilian is suing the department for such and such reason, all the officers take offense. Educate them and get them on our side and this won't happen, we may actually get some support from them.

[Milsurp Collector]

Demand that everyone in his squad or county or whatever goes through a 2 hour firearms laws training course so that it doesn't happen again. That would be a whole heckuva lot more effective than stringing him up as some "example" and furthering the "us vs. them" mentality that is so prevalent out there.

I agree, but do you believe a government agency would invest time improving the training of their officers just become some individual citizen "demanded" it? How can an individual citizen add weight to their "demand" so the agency takes it seriously?

[cmichini]

UPDATE:

As of 1:56PM I got my gun back. I was hunting with it. The rangers took it because they thought it was a AW and wrote me a citation for 12280. I told them I was clear from AW because I have a Bullet Button on it making it a non-detachable magazine. He went to check if it was registered as a AW and couldnt find it so he said it was AW. I went to the shop I purchased it from and got a purchase record and faxed it to DFG. He called back saying he was mistaken and I can pick it up. So I did.
When I got there he said he didnt realize it had a BB, I told him that I pointed that out first before he confiscated it, but he seized to hear me out.

The question now is, should we press charge? Im thinking about it. I drove 10 hour round trip because his negligence!

PS: Its not illegal to hunt with a AR. thats just FUD.

PSS: How can I forget, I am SO SORRY, the frustration just got me all raddeled! THANKS EVERYONE FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

If it were me, I'd feel it my civic duty to file as many formal complaints (criminal and/or civil based on what counsel says is possible), and follow it through as far as possible. This would be on the principle and to try to protect our dwindling civil rights under increasingly overbearing LEOs, for ourselves and generations to come.

Ha, I get to type the sentence 'Protect our rights to legally possess arms, it's for the kids!!'.

But seriously make these people hurt as much as you can. They need to learn the law.

[paul0660]

Demand that everyone in his squad or county or whatever goes through a 2 hour firearms laws training course so that it doesn't happen again.

How exactly would that be done? Stamping his foot REALLY hard? The agent made a very serious mistake, finds out he is wrong because the OP faxes him info, makes a phone call to the OP, and gets to forget about it. Everyone makes mistakes........try that excuse the next time you get a ticket.

I wonder what happened to the citation for 12280.........do they just tear those up when they make a "mistake"?

[foxtrotuniformlima]

If it were me I'd be pretty pissed and want to sue every MFer in the room. But since it is not me and I can sit back and be impartial, I'd think a letter to the head of the DFG explaining what happened, thanking them for a quick resolution and asking that they educate their wardens better so that it does not happen again. Maybe the CGF can help them out in some way by providing the materials ?

[stix213]

I say write a letter complaining about the incident and leave it at that. OP got his firearm back, and a LEO got an education, and is unlikely to make the same mistake again. Pressing charges, or otherwise escalating this could turn a LEO's education into a life long adversarial situation where he ends up hating shooters for how they went after him for a mistake.

[BOFH]

Looks to me like the OP is doing the right thing and is seeking advice from CGF prior to taking action. If CGF can make some good come of it...great. If not, its probably not worth the effort and can be considered to be an unfortunate incident with a quick resolution. Still sucks though.

[Spyder]

[QUOTE=paul0660;5165476]Everyone makes mistakes........try that excuse the next time you get a ticket.

QUOTE]

You've never gotten a warning on a traffic ticket before? I sure have!

[Napalm Bulldog]

I'm not for frying the Leo but if he knows AW's have to be registered than he should know also what is an AW and what is not!

[MP301]

Just about every other profession (Lawyers, Doctors, etc) require continuing education. If your going to do the job, know what the job is. New laws dont come out every other day, new laws come out about every year or so. Why is it so hard to know what the **** your supposed to know and what your job entails? Ignorance of the law is no excuse for common folks, why is it an excuse for those enforcing it?

The reality is, that until people stand up and make those that are too lazy to know the law pay the price...which deters others from be so lazy as well, this will keep happening.

[Spyder]

Doctors don't make mistakes? Why would any of them every worry about malpractice suits then?

Lawyers charge a whole lot of money so they can sit at a desk and look things up when they have a question. Big difference between the luxory of time and stacks of code books you can access to look up what you need to...and asking someone to have every word of every one of those code books memorized. Plus the case law that makes legislated law null and void, or modified, or whatever.

I've never once said that what happened was ok, or should have happened. Only that unless an officer makes the same mistake repeatedely, or does illegal actions maliciously, throwing the book at them will accomplish nothing.

[J-cat]

You know what, when you are in a position where time is on your side, there is no excuse for mistakes. This officer could have called his supervisor, or DOJ (depending on the day/time of the week) before ruining the OP's trip. The problem with most cops is they don't give a crap. They don't like seeing anyone other than themselves with guns, period.

[hammerhands32]

I know, next time your at the range I'll take your rifle under the threat of force and then I'll return it the next day.

[TimRB]

I know, next time your at the range I'll take your rifle under the threat of force and then I'll return it the next day.

No, don't return it--make him come pick it up.

Tim