If not for the NRA

https://www.19fortyfive.com/2021/02/in-the-1930s-the-u-s-government-nearly-regulated-handguns/

yea well, they have evolved (for the worse) since then and clearly aren't worth a chit now.

Yep. Sure wish we could get rid of the NFA, GCA and the Hughes Amendment and if the NRA really cared we could.

When the NFA was written the legislators were concerned that the handgun ban would simply force it work around and people would saw the barrels of shotguns and rifles. That's why they included the prohibition/regulation of short barreled rifles in short barrel shotguns. When they took the handgun ban out of the NFA they should have removed the restrictions on SBRs and SBSs. Suppressors were included in the NFA at the request of game wardens who were frustrated with poachers using them.

Actually silencers were added in the NFA due to the large ranch/cattle owner lobbies who were afraid they would be used to discreetly kill their livestock during the depression. The input from the USFWS was that they had some fear of poaching on federal land with silencers, but the giant cattle ranching lobby is what pushed the legislation through.

Good point