The problems getting the gun back reminds me-
There was a case a year or so back in NC where a guy had his rifle confiscated during a stop.*
He was told he could get it back when he provided proof of ownership.
WTH?
I can't provide proof of ownership on many of my guns or for that matter 99% of my stuff period.
Everything I have was acquired legally of course, I'm just not a big record keeper...I'm always losing receipts etc particularly when I never saw the need to retain if after say a warranty period.
Seems to me the burden of proof it isn't your legally acquired property should be on law enforcement shoulders, not mine to prove it isn't stolen.
IIRC the case involved a dispute (I'm thinking he wasn't in the dispute but was nearby) that got violent and the subject fired his AK (IIRC) into the ground to stop the dispute. Later he was tracked down and the weapon seized in a traffic stop. IIRC he wasn't charged for firing into the ground but he was told to provide proof of ownership to get his weapon back. If anyone has more details on this story and how it turned out I'd love to hear more. It was somewhere in western NC, an area I frequent and own property in.
We don't need to get into whether what he did was justified, point being, again IIRC, he wasn't charged but his weapon was seized pending the proof of ownership thing.