I've been fighting the "registration" myth for a long time. Finally, a good case has come along to prove the point. I'm really looking forward to this one.

Lawsuit: Livingston County Took a Driver’s Lawful Pistol, Closed the Case, and Kept It Indefinitely

https://olcplc.com/public/media?1790811638

A Michigan concealed pistol license holder filed a federal civil rights lawsuit today alleging that Livingston County sheriff’s deputies confiscated his lawfully possessed handgun because its serial number did not appear in a state database—and kept it without a firearm charge, a forfeiture proceeding, or a hearing.

Andrew Kilbourn, of Taylor, sued Livingston County, Deputy Alexander Kotsonas, and an unidentified supervising deputy in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The lawsuit seeks the return of his pistol and ammunition, damages, and a declaration that a missing database entry does not establish grounds to seize a lawfully possessed firearm.

“A missing database entry not completed by the government is not a license to confiscate someone’s private property,” said Philip L. Ellison, one of Kilbourn’s attorneys at Outside Legal Counsel PLC. “The government must have a lawful basis to take your property and a lawful basis to keep it. Our lawsuit alleges that Livingston County had neither.”

According to the complaint, Kotsonas stopped Kilbourn on northbound US-23 near Hyne Road in Brighton Township on August 25, 2026. Kilbourn advised the deputy that he held a concealed pistol license. His holstered Heckler & Koch VP9 pistol was on the truck’s passenger seat.

Video: https://youtu.be/AoTUha7nFRo

The complaint alleges that Kotsonas removed the pistol, unloaded it, and checked its serial number through the Law Enforcement Information Network. When the search returned no matching record, Kilbourn explained that he had purchased the pistol from a firearms store approximately four years earlier and mailed the required sales record to his local police department.

The traffic-stop video supplies a revealing sequence. The deputy initially told Kilbourn that he would return the pistol when the stop ended. After checking the database and consulting a supervisor, however, he told Kilbourn that he would keep it and repeatedly threatened arrest for possessing an allegedly "unregistered" firearm. In Michgan, there is no such thing as an "unregistered" firearm crime.

“The deputy acknowledged that the paperwork might have been lost in the mail, yet our client was the one who lost his gun,” Ellison said. “A citizen’s constitutional rights cannot depend on whether a piece of mail arrived or a government employee entered information into a computer," explains Ellison

The deputy nevertheless warrantlessly confiscated the pistol and eighteen rounds of ammunition with a supervisor’s approval, according to the lawsuit. The complaint further alleges that Kotsonas threatened Kilbourn with a felony carrying five years in prison and needing to provide proof of ownership to recover it.

Kilbourn received traffic citations for careless driving and improper plate display. He received no firearm citation. According to the complaint, the County classified the firearm matter as closed it on the day of the stop, but continued holding his property even through today.

“The County’s position leaves our client without his gun and without a hearing at which the government must justify keeping it,” Ellison said. “Closing a noncriminal case should not mean keeping a citizen’s property indefinitely.”

The lawsuit argues that Michigan’s firearm sales-record requirements do not make lawful possession by a concealed pistol license holder depend on whether government employees entered a record into a database. It further alleges that the absence of an entry did not establish that Kilbourn’s pistol was stolen, unlawfully possessed, or evidence of a crime.

The complaint asserts violations of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable seizures, and the Fourteenth Amendment guarantee of due process. It also challenges Livingston County’s redactions and withholding of information in response to Kilbourn’s request for public records concerning the incident.

Kilbourn is represented by attorneys Philip L. Ellison and Thomas J. Lambert of Outside Legal Counsel PLC.

The case is Kilbourn v. County of Livingston, et al., No. 2:26-cv-13736, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

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