Imagine this: the very trade group representing America’s firearms industry—the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF)—is effectively pleading with Congress to pump even more taxpayer dollars into the ATF’s coffers. That’s right, the same ATF notorious for surprise inspections, endless eForms delays, and shuttering small FFLs left and right. In a recent push, NSSF argues the agency is overwhelmed by surging demand and glitchy systems, positioning budget hikes as the fix. But peel back the layers, and it’s a masterclass in bureaucratic jujitsu: frame understaffing as the villain, and voila—ATF’s $1.5–$1.7 billion annual budget (supporting over 5,000 employees) gets a blank check for modernization. We’ve seen this movie before—eForms upgrades morph into permanent surveillance tools, body cams get double-funded via DOJ grants, and what starts as efficiency becomes an enforcement empire that outlasts any administration.

Clever? Sure, but dangerous for the 2A community. NSSF’s logic assumes more money equals better service, ignoring how agencies weaponize budgets for expansion, not restraint. History screams otherwise: ATF’s workforce ballooned post-Obama, Fast and Furious scandals aside, and now with eForms backlogs cited as exhibit A, small gun shops—already crushed by compliance costs—face the fallout. Fees get hiked, inspections intensify, and that overwhelmed agency suddenly has bandwidth for novel rules like pistol brace crackdowns. It’s not partisan; it’s incentives 101. Regulators fed by industry pleas grow unchecked, turning the fox’s henhouse into a fortress.

The real play for gun owners? Demand shrinkage, not subsidies. Audit ATF’s bloat, slash redundant grants, and force tech fixes without blank checks. NSSF should pivot to lobbying for FFL relief, not regulator welfare. 2A warriors, this is your wake-up: bureaucracies don’t self-regulate. Hit the comments—should we defund or reform? Share this far and wide; the industry’s soul hangs in the balance.