No one EVER gets prosecuted for stuff like that yet you can always find an expert ( self appointed or not ) who can convince you or affirm to you that something is illegal and the ATF is going to stomp your kitty if thats what you want to believe.
I think you and I have debated this point before, and I don't think that we ultimately disagree on what the law is, and whether it's enforced. But I do think a few things are important to be clear on:
1. It's definitely illegal allow someone to have access to your NFA firearm if it's either individually owned or they're not on your trust.
2. No one can point to a case where a family member has been prosecuted for an NFA item being left accessible in a house where they were home alone without the item's legal owner.
3. A fear of this happening, standing alone, should not be a sufficient reason to scare someone into buying a trust.
4. People should be given ALL of the information and allowed to make their own decision.
I agree with you, yugorpk, that sometimes TOO big of a deal is made of it when people are trying to sell a trust. But whenever it's mentioned as one possible benefit of a trust, I see posts saying "That's BS, it's not a risk because it never happens." I think that saying that runs the risk of making people believe it couldn't ever happen. And, unfortunately, because it's pretty clearly a technical violation of federal law, I think there is SOME amount of risk, even if it's small.
So it's okay to say, as you do, that it's not a risk that concerns you. But as a criminal defense attorney, I see people go to prison for a long time for what I perceive to be fairly small legal infractions, and I personally would never allow my wife to be home alone with an unsecured NFA item if she wasn't listed on my trust. It's not the main reason I have a trust, but it does give me peace of mind.
With that said, the ATF isn't going to be busting doors down and stomping kitties over it.
Aaron