Imagine a United States where 922(o) did vanish and the NFA registry was now opened up to any and all machine guns. Anyone eligible to purchase an NFA item could now go through the purchase process and acquire as many new, plentiful and affordable machine guns as their budgets (and spouses) would allow. A brand new M4? Done. A spiffy and cheap, AK-47? Yep. Genuine, all-German MP5's under $2,000? Batter up. One could even pony up the funds to land a genuine M240B, in all its belt-fed glory, and not lay out the equivalent of the price of a modest home in the suburbs of Houston. An enterprising manufacturer/SOT could even set up shop and start cranking out brand new reproductions of venerable classics such as a 1928 Thompson or a Maxim 08/15 or even the Browning M1917. The ability to acquire and afford a machine gun would now be within the reach of just about anyone who had the desire to pursue such an endeavor.

And this is where the good old boy conspiracy falls apart. The vast majority of the founders and leaders of the NFATCA do have a financial interest in the commercial aspect of NFA. They are dealers. As dealers, they make money (hopefully) off of each and every sale. That is the nature of commerce. In a market where the supply of saleable items is restricted, the opportunity for sale is also restricted. If only a small portion of the available items are available for sale... and if there are always more folks competing to acquire those limited items... Fewer sales are going to be made. Ask any NFA dealer that has been around for more than a few years: they are selling fewer machine guns than ever. Sure, the prices of the guns that do sell are eye-popping. But it's hard to make a living when you only sell a few of those each year. It is not uncommon to hear stalwarts of machine gun sales lament the fact they were selling 100's of machine guns per year awhile ago and will be lucky to sell two dozen this year. If 922(o) vanished right now, these dealers, our founders and leaders, could start moving lots of machine guns. Not a few extra, but a veritable bonanza of guns. The limit on how many could be sold would no longer be the number of available guns; the limit would be the number of available customers. Profit would soar. Instead of hoping to eke out a 5% cut off of a brokered sale of a few $20,000 M16's, the dealer is now making $50,000+ in profit off of the same margin on selling a few hundred $1,100 M16's. This is an economic principle known as fast nickels. Fast nickels maximizes profit potential by increasing the number of potential sales, even if individual sale dollars are smaller. It is almost always more advantageous to aim for fast nickels because having an unlimited customer base is simply more profitable than having a greatly restricted supply. Make an occasional sale on a few guns whose prices are kept artificially high as the result of a ridiculous piece of legislation or sell a practically unlimited supply of guns to anyone at reasonable prices? It's not a tough choice to make.

But there are going to be a bunch of guns that are going to take a hit in value, right? Absolutely. Those HK sears are going to crash. Same for the MAC's, the M16's and all of the rest of the relatively common guns that can be pumped out the minute 922(o) is excised from the canon of federal firearms impediments. You know what is not going to lose value? The really collectible stuff. The Maxim 08/15, the M1917, the genuine 1928 Thompson, the Stoner 63A. Even with brand spanking new reproductions on the market, the real examples of these guns are going to retain their value. And the value of these collectible pieces will continue to rise because you will never be able to make more of the "real" thing. Guess what the good old boys are not sitting on a pile of? They are not sitting on a pile of HK sears or MACS or M16's. They move these as fast as they can (when they can get them). The real value of their investments is sitting in the Stoner in the back of the safe, the Swiss Maxim MG11 (with a complete set of all the goodies and accessories that can be used to pay for a very nice wedding) perfectly preserved in the man cave. Successful dealers understand the economics of increasing the supply of available product and making that supply available to as many people as possible. Getting rid of 922(o) means that those dealers make more money. Some folks that currently own the "common" guns are going to take a hit in the value of their purchases. But dealers, those good old boys, are simply not "invested" in the stuff that's going to be vulnerable.