To be fair, the title of the article is kind of misleading. Not surprising since this is an article from the extremely dishonest right-wing rag, the National Review.
The underlying offense is his failure to file the proper paperwork when he bought the gun. If he had filed the proper paperwork, there wouldn't be an issue. Also, he might have been confused because there are exemptions for antique rifles and shotguns, but not for antique handguns.
That said, it seems like a good faith mistakes and he shouldn't face any jail time. Maybe confiscating the gun and a small fine should be in order. But, jail time seems a tad extreme.
Well, yes, he did not file the paperwork. And if there were a law saying that paperwork has to be filed when defecating, he would have been guilty of violating that as well. There can be no public interest in doing an exception for antique shotguns and not handguns. Nor there is any public interest that would be served by confiscating the gun. What should matter here is intention. As far as the guy was concerned this object was no different from an antique chair. And, in fact, for all practical purposes it wasn't any different: in particular, the guy had no way of using it as a weapon (no bullets, no powder, no knowledge how to use it, no nothing). Whatever the letter of the law says, the law also gives prosecutors ample discretion to drop the case. They could have done it at any point - as, in fact, one of the officers in charge tried to do from the very beginning. In addition to everything else, this is gratuitous misuse of public resources, which could have been spent catching and punishing real gun law violators.
So, whatever else you think of the National Review, they are absolutely right in this case.
Frankly, if I were an opponent of gun laws who happened to be a prosecutor, this is exactly how I would behave: trying to use the letter of the law to imprison innocent elderly gentlemen and cat ladies. I am pretty sure, that is exactly what the prosecutor is doing - trying to discredit the law.
