Yes, you have it. No, there is no hope for you.

Here's a photo of your future (my distant past):

I took that pic almost ten years ago .... I've added (ahem!) a few more since then.

Some of those have also gone on to new owners. But since you don't get your $200 back, I keep the stamps as mementos of my old girlfriends.

Sad to think that over the years, I've had to pay .gov more than $7k in NFA taxes to exercise a God-granted freedom recognized by the Bill of Rights.

How long have you been married?

My wife has several "that's it, you are dead" qualifiers. Other women is one. Motorcycles is a big, bad one. Gambling is another.

But we're a month away from our 24th anniversary, in that time, I've stayed away from all of those (I do miss the bikes, but she and I have both lost a lot of very close friends on them, so I sorta understand that one...). I find ways to make extra money to pay for my toys –– it never comes out of the "household" funds, except for two occasions where I wanted MGs I couldn't afford from my "outside" work and it bummed me out, and out of the blue she came up to me and said, "I know you want another machine gun. Go ahead and buy it. We can find the money. You deserve it."

My wife grew up in a family that hunted/fished, and knew how to shoot. Very well. But she doesn't shoot much –– the only gun she owns is a byf 41 Luger I bought her before we got married, and which she cherishes ...  she's not a "gun" person, but she understands it's important to me. And that's it's a way cheaper vice than some of the alternatives.

So my lesson in marriage-counseling, NFA Forum-style, is: Respect what's important to your wife ... and you may be surprised how much NFA crap she'll let you get away with, in return.

The above were bought over many years –– like I said, they average out to two a year or so –– that's $400 per year. But a Class 3 SOT costs an FFL another $500 a year. So it was cheaper to do the transfers.

If I had had time, I might have started a small firearms biz on the side –– but I had a job which paid slightly more $$$ than I could have made in the gun biz. The "day job" also required frequent unscheduled travel, and often a 40-hour week turned into a 60-hour week ... and I wouldn't want to be one of those FFLs –– ya know, the ones you can never get hold of.