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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dave70968" data-source="post: 2294145" data-attributes="member: 13624">Incidentally, Freed identifies, but does not repudiate, a much greater risk to liberty:Scienter (Latin: knowledge), or mens rea (Latin: guilty mind) requires that the accused knew of the nature of his actions.  It doesn't require that he knows the law--knows that his actions are illegal--just that he knows what he's doing.  There has been a trend in criminal law toward dismissing the mens rea requirement, thus making the crime a strict liability offense.  To boil it down to its simplest form, if possession of cocaine is a crime, and mens rea (intent to possess, in this case) is not necessary, then you would be guilty if somebody stuck a packet of coke to the inside of your bumper while you were safely asleep.  No intent, no knowledge, but you were in possession, whether you knew it or not.  In the context of the cases cited, the courts have ruled that possession of an unregistered firearm subject to the NFA--even if the transferee is unaware that the transferor has not registered it to the transferee, as is the transferor's legal duty--is a felony.  Put bluntly, if the other guy doesn't do the paperwork, you get to cool your heels in the graybar.Just ponder that for a while.</blockquote>