Side story on the recent gun spree

[motorfirebox]

What I read about the issue points at gazillions of small provisions inserted by NRA's representatives in Congress into bills. These provisions ban this ATF action, exclude that, de-fund something else and so on.
Up front the NRA appears to call for enforcement of existing laws before any new laws be considered while behind the scenes they make sure there's not going to be such an effective enforcement, thus the argument never goes away.

Essentially, but it also directly taxes their ability to act. For instance, without a guy in Washington to stick up for them, it's difficult for the ATF to get US Attorneys to hand out warrants or to do so in a timely fashion. Straw buyers face hilariously small penalties, and the burden of proof against them is insanely high--prosecutors have no real incentive to go after them.