Based on the police report, this is what happened:
1. On April 10, 2018, Sean Provost--Special Agent with the California DOJ's Bureau of Firearms--was told by his supervisor, Special Agent Fred Frausto that on December 7, 2017, Scott submitted an electronic application via CRIS to register an assault pistol and provided multiple photos of the same. It was a fully assembled firearm with a bullet button. On the CRIS form, Scott said he did not build the firearm. Scott said it had an 8 inch barrel and shot a 300 win mag round. (The model of the lower was an SD15-ITG, which appears to be a standard AR-15 lower, so how it shoots a 300 WINMAG is a mystery.)
2. Frausto and Provost then looked at the DROS record for that serial number, which showed the pistol having been purchased in 2013 as a fully assembled and functioning firearm.
3. In November 2017, Scott went to the Bakersfield Get A Gun with the lower only, which was transferred on the DROS form as a "frame only." Get A Gun's owner confirmed to Frausto that the transfer had indeed been of the frame only.
4. The same April day, Special Agent Greg DeLa Cerda and Provost drove to Scott's house and obtained a description for it in order to obtain a search warrant, which included the ability to search any safes and seize the assault pistol, and other assault weapons, large capacity mags associated with assault weapons, and any receipts indicating sales of firearm parts associated with the assault weapons.
5. The following day, Brian McNamara, Kern County Superior Court Judge, issued the search warrant.
6. Six DOJ BOF officers went to conduct the search the residence. They were wearing body cams. They included Provost, Frausto, another Supervisor Isaias Rivera, and 3 other special agents. Scott answered the door and Provost told him that they were there to investigate the Sun Devil AR pistol he had previously attempted to register, and that he wanted to inspect it. Scott said he wouldn't do anything without his attorney present. Scott asked about the specifics of the gun; Provost said it was a Sun Devil lower chambered in 300 Winmag or 300 BO.
7. Scott states that he was recently divorced and that the weapon was purchased by him and his wife mutually and that he did a pawn return on the weapon (whatever that means) and then attempted to register it "after the one year thing" (whatever that means.) Provost asked to enter the residence but was denied. He told him that they had a search warrant and Scott complied. He agreed to help the agents locate the firearms on the premises.
8. Scott was shown the search warrant and explained his wife purchased the firearm prior to their recent divorce. Afterwards, he began registering firearms in his name.
9. He opened a case for the Sun Devil. SAS Frausto advised that in order to render the firearm safe, he had to depress the rear take down of the firearm and separate the lower and upper receivers in order to remove the magazine. Upon doing so, the firearm was rendered safe, but now met the criteria of an·assault weapon in that it had a standard magazine release button that then allowed the user to simply insert a magazine into the magazine well and remove by depressing the release mechanism. At this time, SAS Frausto closed the firearm and returned it into its original configuration, minus the magazine. As such, this firearm now met the criteria of an assault weapon in that it was a semiautomatic pistol that does not have a fixed magazine, but has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine at some location outside of the pistol grip. SAS Frausto advised a that the firearm would be seized pending review by the district attorney's office in order to determine if charges are warranted for this specific firearm.
10. They then found another assault pistol with no bullet button with a 40 round mag. It was a Noveske N4 lower, listed as being chambered in 300 win mag. Is it really possible to chamber 300 win mag in an AR-15 lower? I assume not because of the size of the round, but they listed that for both the Sun Devil lower and Noveske lower. Maybe they mean 300 BO?
11. They then went through and found a number of non-featureless ARs without bullet buttons. They had telescoping stocks, standard mag releases, pistol grips. No mention is made on whether they had the dreaded flash hiders. 8 such ARs were identified. Two of these were commie caliber rifles, with fully and partially loaded 10 and 20 round mags attached. One of these commie ARs had a slidefire stock. Some of the other rifles were chambered in 223/556 with 20, 30, and 60 round mags attached.
12. They then found 10-inch AR pistol. They initially believed it was an SBR and he was in fact booked for an SBR. But Provost later realized that because the stock was made by Shockwave Technology and designed as a pistol stabilizer, this was not an SBR. However, since it had a standard mag release, it was still an assault pistol.
13. Frausto noticed on one of the rifles carbon buildup suggestive of a silencer. Sure enough, they founda a Surefire Socom 762-RC and M4-200, and ATF paperwork for both.
14. They met with Scott, Mirandized him, and asked him if he'd be willing to speak with them. He said he'll listen to their questions. Frausto asked him if he knew they were illegal, and Scott did not respond. Frausto asked him if the desk and chair in the safe room (he had a walk in safe) was where he worked on his firearms, which Scott confirmed, and joked he was "working down the line" to make his rifles compliant. They gave him DOJ property receipts, confiscated the above rifles, and arrested him.
15. They later checked all the firearms against the registration system, and none were RAWs.
16. The 230 rounds of whatever it was was simply the ammo loaded in the mags in the confiscated firearms. Scott had a ton more guns and ammo that they didn't take during this search (whether they took it later, I have no clue.)
17. DOJ recommended manufacturing charges, but the local DA didn't bring them. The standard and high-capacity magazines did not appear to be a concern at all in the police report.
