January 16, 1998

Mr. 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:

I am writing this letter to appeal the decision of the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) in a letter to me dated
January 7, 1998, bearing symbols L:D:PJC 98-471, regarding my
Freedom of Information Act request dated November 22, 1997. The
grounds for denial, as stated in BATF's letter, is that under Title
5 U.S.C., section 552(b)(3), which BATF identifies as "information
collected under a taxing statute" is exempt from disclosure under
Title 26 U.S.C., section 6103.

As my November 22, 1997, letter states, I am seeking "memorandums,
internal studies and/or other documents which disclose facts in the
case United States vs. Eighteen Various Firearms, 148 F.R.D. 530
(E.D.Pa 1993)." In this letter, I wish to reiterate my request for
this information.

The arguments in support of my request are as follows:

1. All Court proceedings are matters of public record, unless the
Court has directed that all or part of a particular case file be
sealed. The judgement of the Court does not indicate that any such
action was taken in this particular case. Neither does any aspect
of the case reflect that there were any special conditions or
circumstances involving matters of national security, sources and
methods of law enforcement or intelligence, and so forth, which
might trigger unusual protections or safeguards against the release
of information relevant at trial. Thus, the information I am
requesting is clearly a matter of public record.

2. In a letter to me dated September 19, 1997, bearing symbols
CC-48,760 FE:APG, Walfred Nelson, Chief, Firearms, Explosives and
Arson Services Division of BATF, stated that section 6103(h)(4)
authorizes the disclosure of protected tax information "to the
court in any criminal proceeding." As noted in #1 above, the Court
record reflects that the trial was open to the public and that all
exhibits, testimonies, etc. are a matter of public record.

3. I have been in communication with Mr. George E. Fassnacht, the
Defendant in this case, and Mr. Fassnacht has agreed to completely
waive his rights to privacy in this particular case, so that all of
the documentation of it can be released to me under my Freedom of
information Act request. I have enclosed a statement by Mr.
Fassnacht to this effect which is properly notarized; the statement
also includes Mr. Fassnacht's address and telephone number in the
event that BATF may wish to contact Mr. Fassnacht.

4. Public interest requires the BATF to disclose all of the facts
in this case, since this case involves a person who wished to
voluntarily register unregistered firearms under the National
Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934, as amended, after the amnesty period
during which such firearms could be registered expired on December
1, 1968. After moving to seize the firearms, BATF inexplicably
dropped its forfeiture action and sought Court approval to allow
Mr. Fassnacht to register them. These facts are at odds with the
BATF's usual practices, and they require justification. The reason
is that some persons who possess unregistered NFA firearms would
like an opportunity to register them, and these persons are
entitled to know under what conditions the BATF will allow such
voluntary registrations. Thus, release of the information at trial
in this case may serve to publicize an unpublished BATF regulation
or practice; namely, that under some conditions, the BATF will
allow the voluntary registration of unregistered NFA firearms. What
these conditions are, are a matter of public interest as well as of
interest to the Congress, because they directly relate to a law
enforcement practice and legislative responsibility.

Please send the decision regarding this appeal to me at the address
noted below.

Thank you.


Sincerely yours,


Eric M. Larson 
P.O. Box 5497
Takoma Park, Maryland 20913

cc: Mr. George E. Fassnacht

Enclosure