Eric M. Larson P.O. Box 5497 Takoma Park, Maryland 20913 (301) 270-3450 larsone@erols.com January 2, 1999 Patrick Hynes Assistant Director Office of Liaison and Public Information Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms 650 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20226 Dear Mr. Hynes: This letter is to appeal a denial of my Freedom of Information Act request for a copy of the current data entry manual for inputting data into the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record (NFRTR), as stated in ATF's letter to me from Peter J. Chisolm dated December 9, 1998, bearing symbols L:D:PJC 99244, a copy of which is enclosed, which advised me that my appeal must be received within 35 days. The December 9, 1998, letter states that I "should state any arguments in support" of my request. My arguments are as follows: 1. Disclosure of the information entered into the NFRTR, as well as procedures for doing so (including internal checks on the validity and reliability of this information) is necessary because of past failures by ATF to maintain the accuracy and integrity of the NFRTR. Documented evidence of ATF's failures to accurately maintain the NFRTR has been provided to the Congress in testimony by me and others, and appears in the official hearing records of the House Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service and General Government Appropriations in Part 5 of said hearings for Fiscal Years 1997, 1998 and 1998. This evidence is well known to ATF, and is publicly available. Disclosure of the NFRTR data manuals is required to restore public confidence in ATF and the NFRTR. 2. Serious problems with the accuracy and integrity of the NFRTR have continued beyond the 3 testimonies cited above. Specifically, formal Declarations by Noel E. Napolilli, John M. Appleton, James H. Jeffries III, and Safid Shafizadeh, copies of which are enclosed for your information, were filed in October 1998 in Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. These Declarations, made under penalty of perjury, attest to the ATF losing or destroying NFRTR records, as well as registering firearms to the wrong persons or companies and incorrectly certifying as to the correctness of said registrations, among other things. 3. Past responses by ATF to my inquiries about the NFRTR data base manuals have erroneously alleged that I have requested information which cannot be disclosed by law, which would allegedly embarrass or violate the privacy of ATF employees, and so forth. In reponse to my January 18, 1997, appeal of ATF denial of my request for copies of the then-existing NFRTR data manuals, ATF on March 29, 1997, sent me 23 pages (some heavily censored); however, inspection of these 23 pages reveals that the "old" NFRTR data base manual was organized haphazardly, at best. Specifically, there was no index, materials appeared to have been randomly inserted, and the documents themselves were not of a uniform format. Importantly, ATF's release of these 23 pages confirmed what I stated at the beginning; namely, that ATF's claim that these manuals are "related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency" is simply not true. Accordingly, ATF's claim that release of copies of the current NFRTR data base entry manual "risks circumvention of ATF's agency regulations" (which are not stated--which regulations is ATF talking about) is a similar untruth. ATF also claims that "information contained in these manuals could disclose investigative techniques and procedures," and for that reason are unreleasable under Title 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(2). The latter reason is at least in part unsubstantiated, for the simple reason that much of the information in the NFRTR is already known based upon (1) information required to be submitted by persons who register, import, transfer, or make NFA firearms, and (2) data which ATF has publicly released for at least the past 10 years, at least until 1996 (ATF may have decided to halt the public release of NFA statistics following my analyses of the deficiencies of these statistics, as reported in my Congressional testimonies). Specifically, the fact that ATF collects such information as: date of application; firearm serial number; manufacturer of firearm; date of original registration; date of transfer(s) of firearm; name or number of form used to register or transfer firearm; number of firearms registered by type and year of original registration by year from 1934 to present; number of firearms transferred by type and year of transfer, and so forth, can hardly be deemed "secret" information which is not disclosable, in view of the fact I am only requesting ATF to identify the information that is inputted into the NFRTR, and not any specific information (such as a firearm serial number, or the name of the owner or transferor or transferee of a registered firearm) which is clearly prohibited from disclosure by law. It seems difficult for ATF to justify not identifying the information that is inputted into the NFRTR from public disclosure, given the fact that (1) ATF has itself disclosed NFRTR statistics for at least 10 years, and (2) the information that seems likely to be inputted into the NFRTR is readily ascertainable from public documents, i.e., the various registration and/or transfer forms for NFA firearms. 4. Regarding ATF's apparent fear that "investigative techniques and procedures" could be illegally compromised by disclosing the NFRTR data entry manuals and procedures, there is overwhelming evidence that the public interest requires this information to be disclosed. Specifically, ATF has confiscated and destroyed firearms for which ATF could find no record in the NFRTR, although ATF did issue a valid transfer form for such a firearm and certify to its correctness; ATF has also repeatedly used computer printouts that are inaccurate and which were produced by the NFRTR system, which show firearms registered to the wrong people. Evidence of these problerms is contained in the enclosed Declarations. ATF apparently created a new NFRTR data base to attempt to solve these problems, yet, as these declarations attest, problems with the NFRTR have continued. Therefore, it is in the public interest for ATF to disclose exactly what information ATF puts into the NFRTR, as well as its procedures, which presumably include quality control checks, and procedures to ensure that data are being entered correctly, are correctly maintained, and are reasonably protected from unlawful tampering with Government records. 5. Finally, it is my considered opinion, based upon NFRTR data that ATF has already publicly released, and the fact that ATF has refused to release to me any NFRTR statistics for the year 1997 and forward, that ATF is using various claims that the information I have requested may not be disclosed by law, simply as a transparent administrative effort to cover up ATF's own incompetences and failures to correct errors in the NFRTR. No other conclusion is possible, given the continued current experiences by NFA firearms owners and federally licensed NFA dealers in their attempts to lawfully transfer, posseses, or receive NFA firearms, as noted in the enclosed Declarations. I am willing to pay up to $50 for the above information, and if you expect the costs to exceed that please advise me and I will make a decision as to how to proceed. Please mail this information to me at the address shown on the letterhead of this letter. Thank you. Very truly yours, (signed) Eric M. Larson Eric M. Larson