I toyed with rockets back in the 1990s, I was a kid/teen. They were fun. My awesome wife put up wit me reminiscing about my first rocket, a Century UFO Invader, and she actually managed to piece together a complete kit for me and give it as a Christmas present a while back. Still need to put it together.
I can only imagine the ATF silliness the rocket guys have to deal with. I can see how heavy-handed regulation could put people off serious rocketry. It looks like they're trying to do the same with RC aircraft now. Strange as it may seem, I feel less harassed and less restricted flying my real airplane. Full-scale is regulated a lot, sure, but it's "legitimized" to the point that the authorities (federal and local) mostly leave the little guys alone.....and no tracking/remote ID (I didn't bite on the new ADS-B stuff).
Matt