Machine guns are the most tightly controlled firearms in the country. As a result of a combination of laws, they’re not just difficult to get but expensive as well. It’s hard to get them in a lot of cases.

So it wouldn’t have shocked me if someone did something underhanded with corrupt law enforcement so they could get their hands on such weapons a bit easier. That was what was more or less alleged happened with Frederick County Sheriff Charles “Chuck” Jenkins. The charges against him were finally dropped against him, as Cam noted earlier this week.

Still, it was a trying experience for the veteran sheriff. 

“For 587 days, I’ve been the target of a malicious and I believe a political persecution,” he said Tuesday.

In office since 2006, Jenkins long ago became a central figure in Frederick, known for his flattop haircut and presence at funerals, carnivals, block parties and resident meetings. He staked out an aggressive stance on detaining undocumented immigrants who are charged with crimes, which made him a national voice on that debate while sharpening opinions of him at home.

Jenkins took a brief leave of absence after the investigation became public last year but returned to running the sheriff’s office a short time later and remained in charge for much of the case. He said that was encouraged to not give in by his family, friends, supporters — and others — and compared the criminal case to the assassination attempt against Donald Trump.

“I feel like this was an assassination attempt very similar to President Trump on July 13th,” he said. “I really do, in retrospect. It was a near miss. I was injured and I was bloodied, but I didn’t give up the fight.”

Seems like a bold claim, but Jenkins argued this was a Second Amendment issue.

In earlier court filings, Cox had cast the matter as an attack on gun rights.

“Should the Biden Administration’s vindictive prosecution of Mr. Krop and/or Sheriff Jenkins result in shuttering the primary firearms business in Frederick, Md., or the Sheriff’s resignation or removal from office, it well knows that a chill over the exercise of Second Amendment rights will be felt,” Cox wrote.

Prosecutors countered that such “political statements” had “nothing to do with either the law or the facts in this case.”

And you’re welcome to believe as much or as little of that as you’d like.

Look, the truth of the matter is whether this was political or not, it was a nonsense prosecution in the first place. Jenkins had the charges dropped in part because the owner of the gun store in question was acquitted in a court of law. Nothing was happening in the first place, but the ATF went after these two men anyway.

Now, I don’t know precisely what motivated the ATF go to after Krop and Jenkins, though I can’t rule out politics because this is the Biden ATF we’re talking about here, but it also is clear they didn’t have much of a case.

With Donald Trump victorious, though, things are likely to change.

For the last four years, the ATF has treated law-abiding gun owners and lawful gun dealers as if they were all criminals just waiting to be caught. They’ve shown up at people’s doors and punished stores for paperwork errors just as they would if they were selling guns out the back door with no paperwork at all.

The agency has been weaponized against the American people. I’m sure the fact that most gun owners and gun stores weren’t Biden voters in 2020 is completely irrelevant.

Regardless, of the many things Trump may or may not do, I think it’s safe to say these kinds of prosecutions are set to be a thing of the past. People like Krop and Jenkins will be permitted to go about their lives, all while the ATF tries a new strategy of actually going after criminals.

I know, it’s a wild idea, but I think its time has come.