BATFE Rigging Results?

[JohnK3]

I know, this isn't necessarily gun-related, nor is it RKBA related, but I thought y'all might be interested in hearing about a potential BATFE "production" to take a safe, science-based hobby and kill it by over-regulation:

http://www.space-rockets.com/arsanews.html#atfe

Summary: The BATFE has been purchasing hobby-rocketry materials incognito in order to perform "tests" at a military "live-round" range. The video that results from the testing may very well be rigged to give the impression that hobby rocketry is a much greater danger than it really is.

So, when does the ATFE start filming videos of sport shooting to show how dangerous the "hobby" is and how they need to regulate it even MORE than it already is?

[LIKTOSHOOT]

This is not new....BATF&E has been doing this for over five years and as bad as I hate to admit it, with the new and more powerful motors today and improved rocket bodies.......er,,,,,,,never mind.


LTS

[JohnK3]

Originally posted by LIKTOSHOOT
This is not new....BATF&E has been doing this for over five years and as bad as I hate to admit it, with the new and more powerful motors today and improved rocket bodies.......er,,,,,,,never mind.


LTS

Obviously, you don't understand the state of the art in the amateur community.

What they're trying to regulate hasn't advanced very much technologically since the development of the Space Shuttle. What they're trying to regulate is Ammonium Perchlorate Composite Propellant, not the newer, more advanced propellants. Rocket bodies? We're talking TFNC (Three Fins and a Nose Cone) technology. There's not much more you can do to a rocket to make it more efficient within an atmosphere.

Advances are made in guidance systems, not in the basic aerodynamics and propulsion of the rockets. Amateur guidance systems are so expensive that, by the time a terrorist or criminal paid to have one put together, he'd save tons of money and time by buying an already-ready-to-fire Stinger or other MANPAD on the black market.

They're ignoring the cost-effectiveness factor in the equation because it doesn't allow them to expand their regulatory turf. It's the unspoken, unwritten imperative of all bureaucracies to expand their area of responsibility. BATFE is doing just that.