Because There's No 900 lb. Gorilla For NFA

I've noticed that the anti-gun forces have been doing petty pecking at NFA regulations.

They've been successful and they've got a fine representative in the National Firearms Act Traders & Collectors Association or NFATCA.

NFATCA sees themselves as making the noble stand and selflessly sacrificing to make the NFA world less bad than it could be.

The problem with their meddling, with the best of intentions, is all they're really doing to a lot of people is paving the road to Hell.

They flat accused anyone with an NFA trust of being a felon trying to skirt the possession laws while also acknowledging that many people with an NFA trust would have gone the individual route if their chief law enforcement officer (CLEO) would sign Form 1 or Form 4's.

I applauded the attempt to eliminate the CLEO signature from individual transfers.

It was the attack on NFA trusts that pissed me off.  I was not asked by the NFATCA why I got a trust instead of doing individual ownership.

With a trust The Lovely Harvey can also have access to the NFA items while I am away.  With a trust, we can take care of the legal necessities of The Boy for the sad day when we're both dead and gone.  Our NFA trust, is also a traditional trust to make sure that The Boy, who cannot govern his own affairs, never ends up owning any of the guns.  He's literally incompetent.  The trust liquidates the gun collection and sets up accounts to help support him.

That I could file Form 1's and not invite the sheriff into my life by begging permission to exercise a right was just a bonus.  Skipping the cost and bother of getting a photo and fingerprints was also a welcome plus to the trust.

The problem for NFATCA was kind of simple.  If someone could just form a trust to avoid an anti-gun CLEO's tyranny, then there's no need to eliminate the signature from an individual transfer.

So they demonized the trusts and trust holders.

When ATF ignored them for years they sued the ATF to listen to their demands.

Stomping their feet and holding their breath, they eventually got their way and soon using an NFA trust will be a tedious endeavor.  A tedious endeavor that as of this moment still isn't fully defined.  At present I don't know what I will have to do to file a Form 1 or Form 4 after 13Jul16.

Thanks NFATCA!

But now I see they're at it again with suppressors now.

Guys, when you're dealing with people who hate you and are looking for an excuse to fuck you over, don't give them extra chances.

I say again:

There are two ways to start a rulemaking.

First is when the executive gets a burr up their ass to outlaw something.  This is how we get rulemaking that bans M855 and other SS109 ammunition as "armor piercing".  It's also where 5.56x45mm becomes "designed for" use in a pistol.

Second is when the citizens petition for a rulemaking.  They can suggest what rule they want to see when they petition, but the actual rule will be drafted by the agency and colored by the sitting administration.

Read that very carefully.

You are begging (which is what a petition really is) an agency to change a rule they've already made to make your life easier but they have complete control over what changes will be submitted for comment, and then whether to ignore those comments and do what they want anyways.

In most cases what this boils down to is "leave it well enough alone."

This is also why the best method of affecting changes to the regulations is by getting Congress to pass a law.

There is nothing broken with how suppressors are marked under the present rules.  There is no need at all to change them.  So why has NFATCA taken it upon themselves to demand ATF change the rules?

Update:

I'm not the only one noticing their meddling.