XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: feartheguns@liberalism.com   
      
   Michael Merritt had all but forgotten about the pot bust way   
   back in 1970 when state agents came knocking on the door of his   
   Bakersfield, Calif. home.   
      
   The agents, from the state’s Department of Justice, started   
   peppering the 61-year-old avid hunter with questions about the   
   guns he owns. Then they told him to hand them over.   
      
   “I didn’t know why they were here,” Merritt told FoxNews.com of   
   the Nov. 5 incident. “Then it hit me in a flash. They were here   
   to take my guns and I didn’t know why.”   
      
   Merritt was a convicted felon, according to their records, and   
   therefore not eligible to own the pistols, hunting rifles and   
   various collectibles he had legally purchased and registered.   
   But the idea he was a felon was news to him, Merritt said.   
      
   “I kept asking them what the felony was for,” he said. "They   
   just showed me a printout with some code and told me they   
   weren’t sure what it was for.”   
      
   It turned out that the outdated felony code on the   
   printout—11910 – was for a pot possession charge which has since   
   been downgraded in California law. Merritt remembered being   
   arrested, and paying a fine -- he thinks it was $100 -- and   
   spending some weekends in the lockup.   
      
   “I don’t even remember pleading guilty,” Merritt said. "I   
   probably did. I was young. I was probably scared to go to jail.   
      
   "The charge doesn’t exist anymore. It’s a ticket,” he added.   
   “The weird part is that all my weapons were legally purchased   
   with a DOJ background check. I never had a problem.”   
      
   “My wife got mad and told them to get out of the house and to   
   not come back without a warrant,” he recalled. “That’s when they   
   got a little angry. They said to her, ‘we’ll come back with a   
   warrant, but he will likely be arrested when we do.”   
      
   A bewildered Merritt turned over his guns. He later learned the   
   agents were part of a special state unit tasked with checking   
   the lists of registered gun owners against databases showing   
   people who are not allowed to have weapons. It was set up under   
   a program called the Armed and Prohibited Persons System   
   established in 2001.   
      
   The unit falls under the Bureau of Firearms in the state   
   Department of Justice. An assistant chief with the Bureau of   
   Firearms confirmed to local media outlets that Merritt was on   
   the list and showed up as having a felony conviction.   
      
   "California has clear laws determining who can possess firearms   
   based on their threat to public safety," California Attorney   
   General Kamala Harris said in 2012. "Enforcing those laws is   
   crucial because we have seen the terrible tragedies that occur   
   when guns are in the wrong hands."   
      
   But it turned out that amid all the cross-checking of databases,   
   no one caught that Merritt's pot bust was downgraded to a   
   misdemeanor, making him a legal gun owner. Two weeks later,   
   agents returned and gave Merritt back his weapons.   
      
   “They called me and said they were going to return them and that   
   the felony was taken off my record,'" Merritt said.   
      
   But the seizure of his guns has left a bitter taste in Merritt's   
   mouth.   
      
   “They didn’t even do it the right way,” he said. “They violated   
   my Fourth Amendment rights. The whole thing was upsetting. I was   
   told that I was unable to protect my family. To go hunting,   
   which is something I cherish. I don’t even think I would have   
   been able to vote with the felony charge."   
      
   http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/02/05/long-forgotten-pot-bust-   
   bureacratic-screwup-prompt-agents-to-seize-   
   california/?intcmp=trending   
      
       
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)