What's funny though is that they didn't actually change the law. They just directed the ATM to enforce the law differently than it is written, which is why that ban was struck down by the Supreme Court in '24, ruling that the ATF doesn't have the authority to change the definition w/o legislation

Ah, I see. You know - I'm no expert - but it seems to me if there's one place you don't want to half-ass the law, it's assault weapons. And yet...

I mean the NFA was fucked up -at the time of writing- in 1934. It was originally going to also regulate all short-barreled guns, as in all pistols, and at the last minute it didn't. So there's vestigial regulation of short barrel 'long' guns that doesn't make any sense.

Almost every bit of US gun legislation has been a disaster. The receiver is the gun - really? The "silencer" panic. The SBR wackiness. All those laws around "look and feel" rather than actual effectiveness.