It is interesting how statutory law making and agency rule making can make a mockery of common law. It is generally done through this kind of complexity.
So... start with your common law rights...
Add statutory regulation that establishes an agency with deep bureaucracy...
that establishes complex rules...
that are observed by the law enforcement agencies...
who suspect a violation of law...
that the suspect gets to interpret and disprove... (using rather expensive legal resources)
with all this complex mess unraveled in court...
and interpreted by a jury...
It is a very effective deterrent that took a couple of hundred years to evolve in our system in the USA.
The layered local, county, state, federal statutory laws are quite complex to begin with. Add the ATF regulations (which come in a rather thick packet with even more on an enclosed CD) and the regular changes reflected online.
Bumping up against the NFA rules is, I think, intentionally deep and complex. One of my gun club members has a legally registered silenced .308 rifle. You can't imagine the complexity when he moved from another state here several years ago. Just about every layer of government got into the fray, and it took a couple of years to sort out.
Of interest, I just bought an AR lower locally at one of our gun shows to complement an Adams Arms piston upper (M4 carbine configuration). The lower is on the books as an "other" rather than rifle or pistol. I wonder what happens if it were to morph into different things with different uppers...
Marc
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 Igitur si vis pacem, para bellum -
- Therefore if you want peace, prepare for war.
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