page 1 Eric M. Larson P.O. Box 5497 Takoma Park, Maryland 20913 (301) 270-3450 larsone@erols.com November 5, 1999 John W. Magaw, Director Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms 650 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20226 Dear Director Magaw: I am writing to you in my capacity as a concerned citizen, Associate Member of the Collector Arms Dealers Association, and researcher and collector of historic firearms, regarding a potentially serious matter that could adversely affect the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). Specifically, I am writing to alert you to the possibility that some ATF personnel in the National Firearms Act Branch may attempt to take the position that ATF has no written policies which address rules to be followed in detecting, defining and correcting errors in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record (NFRTR), a position which independent evidence would make unworthy of belief. As the enclosed letter indicates, I am in the process of attempting to obtain these documents through a Freedom of Information Act request. As the letter indicates, it appears that ATF is going to take the position that the documents which I seek, which are internally referenced in the NFRTR "Quality Review" data manual, were never created and do not exist. It would have been impossible for such documentation not to exist somewhere within ATF given documents I reproduced on pages 101 to 104 of my 1997 testimony before the House Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service and General Government Appropriations. One document (on page 104) is entitled "Error Resolution Review," and summarizes various errors in the NFRTR that apparently were corrected as a result of certain reviews, some of which are reproduced on pages 102 to 104, which themselves define various types of errors in the NFRTR. The purpose of this letter is to provide you with fair warning that if ATF attempts to take the position that no written documentation or policy exists to guide NFA Branch clerks in identifying and correcting errors in the NFRTR, I am going to personally take all of the evidence that I have to the contrary and present it to The Honorable Jim Kolbe, Chairman, House Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service and General Government Appropriations; and to The Honorable Dan Burton, Chairman, House Committee on Government Reform, who requested the Treasury Department Office of Inspector General (IG) to evaluate ATF's firearm registration practices in 1997. I believe Chairman Kolbe and Chairman Burton would be interested in ATF's firearm registration practices, page 2 should ATF claim that it has no written policies to guide its personnel in correcting errors in the NFRTR, given the errors that the IG encountered during his audit and reported to both you and to Chairman Burton. Director Magaw, the recalcitrance of certain ATF employees to conform to the ordinary standards of a federal law enforcement program, by continuing to refuse to correct errors in the NFRTR which the IG has documented, seems to call into question the competency of ATF as a federal law enforcement agency in its administration of the National Firearms Act of 1934, as amended, and specifically its administration of the NFRTR. It is my sincere hope that you will consider exercising your executive authority, and demonstrate leadership by encouraging personnel in ATF's National Firearms Act Branch to conform with the Freedom of Information Act law, as well as to correct the serious errors in the NFRTR which the IG has documented. Your leadership should include establishing an amnesty period, as authorized under current law, to correct the serious errors in the NFRTR, as indicated in the IG's reports and my 1999 testimony before the House Appropriations Subcommittee. Sincerely, (signed---Eric M. Larson) Enclosure Letter from Eric M. Larson to the Assistant Director, Liaison and Public Information, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, dated October 29, 1999. cc: The Honorable Jim Kolbe The Honorable Dan Burton