The ATF told The Reload on Friday that it has received only about a quarter million applications to register AR-style pistols since the grace period ran out and the ban on such weapons took effect at the beginning of the month.

"The final rule provided possessors of such firearms the option to comply with the registration requirements of the National Firearms Act through a tax-free process using either the ATF eForms System or a paper application process with a deadline for such applications of 11:59 PM (ET) on May 31, 2023," Erik Longnecker, Deputy Chief of the ATF's Public Affairs Division, told The Reload. "As of June 1, 2023, ATF received 255,162 applications for tax-free registration."

250K is only a tiny percentage of such weapons in circulation across America. The ATF estimates that there are 3 to 7 million AR-style pistols in America; the Congressional Research Service says the number is way higher – somewhere between 10 and 40 million.

So, at the very most, roughly 8% of these blasters were registered. Assuming the highest estimates of the number of AR-style pistols in America, that percentage drops to just 0.6%.

What else can you say but ... Merica. 🇺🇸