Hmmm...doesn't read that way to me.
I've thought the same in past but the NRC regulations are a bit strange to understand.
Consumer products containing tritium are legal for citizens to possess. Basically, 10 CFR 30.19 allows you possession of a tritium containing consumer product. You can buy night sights, an exit sign (some are illuminated by tritium), a key chain, etc. without a problem or a expensive license.
Obviously, companies that manufacture tritium containing products require a license per the NRC.
Bare glass vials are not a finished consumer product and require a license for possession.
If you assemble a product using the raw tritium vials you are now breaking NRC regulations.
Except for persons who manufacture, process, produce, or initially transfer for sale or distribution self-luminous products containing tritium, krypton-85, or promethium-147, ... any person is exempt from the requirements for a license.
By drilling out sights and epoxying in tritium vials, you are manufacturing a product containing tritium. This is not allowed by the NRC.
The confusion I believe comes from the fact that people don't realize that tritium is an isotope of hydrogen. Inside that vial is nothing more than a radioactive form of hydrogen gas. The glass vial it comes in doesn't qualify as a consumer product, since tritium obviously needs some sort of storage container.
On one sight where you can buy these vials at the very bottom in fine print it states, "It is the
buyer's responsibility to possess a valid license for the import and handling of tritium illuminated products."