This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The organizer of the 2015 legislative commemorative firearm program has been cited by the Utah Division of Consumer Protection for failing to register as a charitable organization, not obtaining 501(c)(3) nonprofit status and not delivering the rifles on time.

Businessman and gun enthusiast Jeremy Roberts faces an $11,000 fine, but is appealing and says nobody was harmed in the process that was marred by confusion, delays and the disengagement of the original manufacturer over payment issues.

The whole ordeal has also put the legislative commemorative firearm program, which has been offered for several years, on hold.

The 2015 commemorative firearm generated controversy from the start because the gun offered was the AR-15 rifle, the model used in some mass shootings because of its ability to fire rounds quickly. In the past, the commemorative firearm chosen for sale to legislators and others as collectors' items was a handgun.

Roberts — who put together the program with several legislators, most prominently Rep. Curt Oda, R-Clearfield — says that Consumer Protection offered him a settlement of a $1,000 fine if he acknowledged the alleged violations. He refused, insisting he did nothing wrong and nobody but him lost money.

The complaint originally was filed against the Utah Gun Safety Council, which was formed by Roberts. When he refused the settlement offer, he says, the fine was aimed at him personally.

The problems began when Tegra Arms, the Orem manufacturer chosen to make the guns, pulled out of the program because it hadn't been paid in what it thought was a timely fashion. Tegra agents said they needed money paid to them before they could start making the rifles. The pullout occurred in the summer of 2015, several months after the offer was made to legislators and other select individuals to buy the gun.

Roberts says he didn't have the money to pay Tegra upfront because checks from those who had ordered the rifles were trickling in slowly.

After Tegra left, Roberts selected Lehi-based Guerrilla Rifle Co. to build the guns, and everyone who ordered the AR-15s has now received them.

About 200 rifles were purchased. Legislators could by them for $650; others could pay $750.

One basis for the citation was that Roberts originally told buyers they could take $100 of their purchase as a tax write-off. But when Tegra listed the rifles for public sale at about $1,200, that eliminated the ability for a write-off because the buyers in the program already were getting a discount.

Roberts says there was never a promise of when the guns would be delivered, but more confusion ensued when a legislative intern for Oda sent an email stating the rifles would be delivered within 30 days.

Roberts says he and Oda did not know about that email. He says some of the money from the gun sales has gone toward expenses and to pay an attorney who helped write several pieces of legislation to promote firearms safety.

Trump intrigue • I mentioned in my Saturday column a tweet by Trump that belittled Utah, calling it "a small state, strange people. Boring place."

It may have been a fake. The online fact checker Snopes.com says the tweet, which was taken down after it was posted, didn't contain a blue symbol that is included in Trump's tweets. It also doesn't appear anywhere on Trump's timeline.

While the tweet may have been a sham, it doesn't change my premise that Trump is wooing a state he has shown less respect for in the past. He has trashed Utah favorite son Mitt Romney, questioning how good of Mormon he is, and he seemed to be making fun of the state during a speech before evangelical Christian leaders in Orlando, saying he has a "tremendous problem in Utah" and asking if anyone there was from Utah. "I didn't think so," he said to laughter among leaders of a religious faction that sometimes questions whether Mormons are Christians.

Correction • There are 139 fallen peace officers listed on the Utah Law Enforcement Memorial at the Utah Capitol. The number I cited in my column Monday was wrong.