They're already trying that - first, they have to limit the ammo, and they keep trying, through magazine limitations. They tried the "armor piercing" thing and tried to take M855, and THAT backfired in their face kinda quicklike. Outside of the 10-rd limit states (all the blue ones), I think CO is the only other one that got hit, with 15rds, on mag restrictions. CO got that only from all the granola-head motherfuckers that leaked into there from Cali. "Ooooh, Boulder, and Durango..." I think they even took the mags before they got the legal pot!
What your wife speaks is the truth - they want the operational parts, first. Just like the British, in late 1774, seizing powder stores. It wasn't about "taxation." That was an annoyance, but not the problem. The British tried to seize their last powder stores here on 19 April, 1775, and the shiit truly hit the fan on THAT day. No more. No more powder shall ye take, not today, and not ever...