Are we living in a police state?

Watch this CNN video. I’ll try to summarize.  An upstanding citizen, army veteran and reservist lent his AR-15 rifle to a neighbor.  The neighbor took it to a shooting range.  While he was firing it the gun malfunctioned and double fired.

The ATF hearing about this decided to do a complete SWAT raid into his house, breaking down his door and all that.  They confiscated his computer and gun collection.  No other questionable material was found.

The ATF sent the gun to their laboratory.  The first test comes back that it was NOT a machine gun.  The ATF didn’t like that answer so they tried again.  This time they got it to malfunction again and voila, called it an illegal machine gun. 

The US Attorney, I suppose appointed by GW Bush, actually prosecuted the case and he was found guilty.  Now he’s soon to be sentenced and could get years in federal prison.

If this isn’t a miscarriage of justice than what is.  Where’s the intent to break the law?  How is society better off when the government persecutes a guy who was trying to obey the law?  If an innocent man like him can be treated this way is anyone safe?

This is a shameful action by our government.