February 19, 1998 The Honorable Dan Burton Chairman Committee on Government Reform and Oversight House of Representatives 2157 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Chairman Burton: My name is Noel Napolilli. I am a retired public school teacher of 28 years. I am writing to you regarding the seizure of my German MP-40, by BATF, in 1993. I recently learned that my case was included in formal testimony last April before the House Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government Appropriations. I also discovered that it was specifically brought to the attention of Ms. Carol Bergen of the Treasury Department Office of Inspector General last October, although she has not contacted me. Therefore, I will not go into the legalities regarding my case here. I believe that the facts will speak for themselves. I simply would ask for your help in encouraging BATF to return my MP-40. As you know, I sued BATF for the return of my Mp-40 (serial number 4212) when they refused to return it to me after I had voluntarily sent it to them for review of the firearm and its registration paperwork (Form 3). I sent these to them because they questioned the fact that the MP-40 was legally registered. Their laboratory analysis determined that my paperwork was not a forgery, yet they still would not return my firearm or acknowledge its registration, because they had no record of it in their data base. In 1994, after many months of litigation, I dropped the suit against the advice of my counsels. This was because my wife and I were fearful of BATF reprisals, the seizure of my sizeable firearm collection, being "black balled" in future transactions requiring BATF approval and being harrassed by constant "inspections." There was substantial evidence that these things would likely occur based on other incidents with which I was familiar. I also had to consider that the cost of continuing litigation against BATF was going to far exceed the value of the firearm involved. I was very upset about having to drop this case at the time. It became worse after I learned that BATF employees had destroyed other registration documents to avoid having to work on them and that their data base approached a 50% error rate. I feel that this entire incident was unnecessary and cavalier on BATF's part. I would respectfully request your assistance in any way you would be willing to provide. Sincerely, (signed---Noel Napolilli) Noel Napolilli cc: The Honorable Orrin G. Hatch Chairman Senate Committee on the Judiciary The Honorable Jim Kolbe Chairman Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government