Perhaps true in this particular case but not generally.
What generally happens is that the charge related to unlicensed manufacture is used as a throw-away to pressure the defendant into accepting a plea bargain on the more serious charges that started their being investigated to begin with.
The unlicensed manufacture is a Fed. charge, the Fed’s are not really interested in prosecuting the local dope dealer, child molester, rapist, check kiter, etc.
But the local DA likes using the threat of a Fed. charge to get the defendant to plead out.
Avoiding actual trial seems to be the major effort of DA’s these days.
Maybe because we just have too many laws on the books, maybe because counties don’t want the expense so “Saving the taxpayers money” is now the priority?
Expect this guy to spend about $40K in legal fees and get probation.
All for an AR he maybe made a hundred dollar profit on!
DA’s want to preserve a 100% conviction rate at all costs so they can get paid by the big defense firms in a few years... so they let dangerous criminals out on the street to preserver their future earnings all the time.
Only the super air tight cases get prosecuted. The people get to suffer.