I am not surprised. As a conservative, I am glad the Republicans are holding their ground and the government shut down. What is another few weeks to my NFA applications? At this point, I am fine with it.
I am under no illusions and agree with you. They want what all authoritarians want... a monopoly on violence. After all, when they have all the guns, what are you going to do when they simply throw out the Constitution?
As for losing Sara Jones, I only recently heard this and Jason Bowers is our new examiner. I heard Sara was great and in fact was my examiner on my first couple of Form 4s.