The law was passed to protect the gun manufacturers, who were being threatened by a flood of military surplus weapons being sold at incredibly low prices. As is often the case, the flood had already taken place, so the consequences were borne by the custom gun makers who used military actions like this one. However, I doubt that whoever processes ATF import permit applications would identify a rifle in this price range with being military surplus or would identify the manuracturer DWM as being exclusively military.