"Is anybody else seeing a ramp up in "policy change", rather than legislation, to limit 2A rights? Either my tinfoil hat is too tight or they've realized they won't win in the courts or public opinion (yet) and are back-dooring the issue."
It's not just an increase, it is actually accelerating rapidly. Basically, I think Obama has been operating independently of congress as much as he can long enough, that he's finally starting to get the hang of it. Find some area of regulation that is equal parts obscure, complex, and purposely vague *cough* taxes/epa/atf *cough* then go to town on it. Dare the courts and opponents to strike it down, because it won't happen within five years and by then will have its own inertia. Even if eventually struck down, opponents will have expended infinitely more resources than it took to implement the unconstitutional regulation in the first place, and many more will have already supplanted it like a Hydra.
See my sig line for a far, far, far more insidious tactic than this Social Security stuff, which affects everyone. Oh yeah, the ATF's now on track to essentially shut down the entire market for ammunition larger than 50 caliber, aside from what they've exempted (shotguns, big game nitros, and possibly, for now, certain types of BMG). The firearms trust rule change and, yes, M855 ban are actually still hanging out there like a sword of Damocles. But it's early, yet, so there'll be something else before 2016.
TCB