Example: I can have freeze plugs for a chevy and a d cell Maglite flashlight sitting in my barn its not illegal to buy or own either of those items and they both have their own intended uses that in no way is illegal, yet if I had them near one another in the barn and the atf showed up for a ffl audit they would arrest me for intent to manufacture a silencer. It's the exact same thing it don't matter how legal you think you are.
Ok. I think you are missing my point, here, Boost. If you have freeze plugs for a Chevy...and you have your D cell MagLite (quite outdated for sure, but ok, I'll go with it)...when in a friggin ordinary day would the ATF just randomly show up for the average person? Audit for an FFL holder? Ok. That's a special case... Audit then. Lets go from there. If you have an FFL: are you intelligent enough to make sure your licenses are in order and that nothing looks untoward to the auditor? As an FFL holder, are you trying to get into trouble? Are you going to put those things in close proximity to one another, KNOWING they are used for the nefarious purpose of making silencers, and knowing you could be surprise audited? Maybe buy a newer flashlight that doesnt exactly fall into that suspicious category
Or are you loosey goosey with everything to the point you dont have the presence of mind not to do something that would cause the police to stop you while you knew you had bolt cutters in plain view for some reason? Or, how about as an FFL holder, dont have a maglite and freeze plugs anywhere near your gun smithing tools.
It does indeed matter how legal you are. It just sounds to me like you dont know enough to keep certain things separate or do without certain things, so you can keep certain licenses. Or that you dont think ahead enough to put bolt cutters in a locked toolbox in the back of the truck before you decide to run that red light that gets you pulled over.
Here's a tip: dont carry or mention a gun or knife during a robbery, and you wont be charged with armed robbery. Best yet, dont do the robbery. The rules and laws are there. What you describe is just the choosing to live on the edge of it, and complain when you get looked at sideways for it