Your post reminds me of a quote by one of my conservative heroes of the 18th century, Edmund Burke. He stated "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
While I have no doubt your intentions are good, you seem to be one of too many NFA collectors that simply shrugs off the wait and thinks "Well, that is just the way it is." You seem to be defending the actions of the NFA Branch in this endeavor. While I agree with your historical facts about the $200 tax, let's not forget the whole purpose of that tax was to discourage citizens from even applying. Now that insidious misappropriation of government power has been supplanted by the CLEO sign off and the ever growing wait. As long as no one raises their voices, the people in charge realize that they have used deception to get you to believe that it is the new norm. They will keep adding to the wait until they encounter more resistance. By then it is too late, and once again the anti-gunners have advanced the ball down the proverbial gridiron. All we can do is accept this new paradigm. When will enough be enough? To many people in the NFA world are not speaking up and doing nothing as to not "rock the boat." This lack of action is what Edmund Burke was talking about in regards to letting evil win.
Every year our national budget grows, even with sequestration. Every year the redundant and every bloating government bureaucracies gain more staff, bigger budgets and more encroaching power.
Q: When the IRS has more returns to go through, what do they do? A: They hire more staff.
Q: When the DOJ has a bigger case load to go through, what do they do? A: They hire more staff.
Q: When the EPA has a rise in applications for drilling permits, what do they do? A: They hire more staff.
Q: When the DHS has a rise in applications for more immigration, what do they do? They hire more staff.
But then...
Q: When the NFA Branch has more applications to process, what do they do? A: They REDUCE staff, furlough workers, and add more burdensome steps to the application process.
One of these is not the like the others. Can you tell which?
Something is very wrong with this picture.
We would not accept unreasonable wait times for tax returns, marriage licenses, drivers licenses, SSI benefits, etc. For Pete's sake, we put man on the moon and the best we can do is a year wait to get approval to knock five inches off of a rifle barrel? I am not an unreasonable man and believe there is some legitimacy in the NFA system. I personally do not feel burdened by the fingerprints, passport photos, or the transfer tax. I am even ok with filing out forms for interstate travel of my NFA weapons. I am a law abiding citizen and do not want prohibited persons obtaining such weapons. I believe however that with my concessions of natural, God-given rights there should be in return a "reasonable" processing time on my applications. Heck, I am not asking for a month or two months. I am fine with 4 or 5. But 10 months? A year? How long will it take before more people stand up and say enough is enough?
Maybe you already have all your NFA toys and the wait times no longer affect you in any substantial way. I could understand your sentiment if that was the case. However, as a representative of an organization that represents people like myself I am very disheartened by your lack of concern. Even after the NFACTA's recent debacle with the ATF, I still considered joining and donating money. I am a member of the NRA, ASA and GOA. However, I am just not convinced that your organization really represents me and my concerns with the current NFA system.
I am not blaming you or your organization. Nor do I blame the examiners or contract labor at the NFA Branch. Everyone is just doing what they are told and no one wants to ruffle anyone's feathers. While nothing is being said and nothing is being done, the anti-gunners are quietly advancing their agenda and bringing to a screeching halt the entire NFA system.