Did you notice this statement by the Government Prosecutor Zuckerman “argued that someone who supported Bundy and his disregard for court orders is unlikely to comply with bail conditions and said the weapons DeLemus took to the ranch — including a sniper’s rifle designed to intimidate and kill — were reason enough to consider him a public safety risk.”
Just having a gun can cause you to be deemed “dangerous and a flight risk.”
If you are a sniper, the enemy will never see you or the weapon.
(Note that "sniper rifle" might also include any decent hunting rifle as well, common in the open spaces of the West)
I will further contend that having a "sniper rifle" in proximity to where there was a standoff that has concluded is just as much a threat to the people who were at the standoff as having such a firearm in proximity to the the Little Big Horn Battlefield is a threat to General Custer. It isn't.
Anyone who lives near a battlefield or site of any historical event or robbery or other situation in the past would be able to be deemed a threat to someone with this logic, whether the event is centuries old or a few days.
We are there. The 4 AM 'knock on the door' is a reality, by the guys in black uniforms. The insignia are different, the intent the same--to intimidate people out of standing up against the Thugocracy that has replaced our legitimate Government. That there is precedent for this sort of behaviour makes it all the more a sad situation.
But the one thing the people pulling the strings underestimate is the character of Americans. When our servants try to intimidate us, historically, that has deepened our resolve to find them different employment.