Lagopus, those are good thoughts and examples. Some years ago, when Parcel Force [British Mail System] quit sending guns of any kind, I could no longer buy a British antique [American Standards] and have it mailed to my door in the U.S. , without a Form 6 here, or with a Form 6 if required here. Since then, guns had to be shipped here by Freight Companies and the resultant cost was change from $2-300 per gun to $700 or more. On top of that the Freight Company would send the gun from England to an airport here that had a Customs service. Once I had to make a 6 hour round trip to a Customs Service in Montana in the mid of winter to pick up my gun made in 1869.
