“So now I’m back to wondering if those conspiracy theories weren’t right all along.”

Anyone that doubts the existence of conspiracies needs to read the Church committee reports;

http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/contents/church/contents_church_reports.htm

Without wading thru it yet again, IIRC, it was found that the CIA had almost 8,000 unauthorized ‘conspiracies’ in progress at the time of the investigation. That is just the CIA. By the time you throw in another hundred or so spy agencies, plus all the industrial espionage going on and you have millions of conspiracies in progress EVERY single day. What is hard to believe is that so few of them are every exposed.

AS far as .308 rifles I like this;

http://www.geocities.com/awatters2002/m1a/

Not a home defense weapon, but as part of a neighborhood watch program, it’s a welcome addition.
Full auto kits are available and the switch isn’t to bad. Not that you want a full auto today, but once the cities are burning and millions of Americans are wandering around looking for something to eat, the ATF will have better things to do then looking for full auto weapons. Meanwhile, I don’t think having the kit in your closet is illegal. Don’t know for sure, but I have never heard of anyone getting busted for having one and I bought mine over the counter.