http://www.csl.sri.com/users/risko/risks.txt

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As has been reported elsewhere,http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/wbardwel/public/nfalist/rip/index.html the NFRTR has been in deplorable condition for some time. Many registration documents have been lost by ATFE, and some were even willfully destroyed by ATFE contract employees in a well documented case. Furthermore, the electronic database that serves as the authoritative Registry is known to have serious flaws and inconsistencies. Due to various political and financial issues, the ATFE has been slow to rectify these problems with the NFRTR (although the pace seems to have picked up since a recent wholesale relocation and restaffing of the NFA Branch). Thomas Busey, who was the Chief of the NFA Branch for a period in the 1990s, admitted in a videotaped training session in 1995 that the NFRTR had a 49-50% error rate. Mr. Busey also stated in this session, “Let me say when we testify in court, we testify that the data base is 100 percent accurate. That’s what we testify to, and we will always testify to that. As you probably well know, that may not be 100 percent true.”

In a 1998 letter to Chairman Dan Burton of the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/wbardwel/public/nfalist/rip/leasure_letter_re_nfa_destruction.txt pursuant to a conviction based on flawed NFRTR information, David Montague, an attorney for the defendant (whose convictions were previously overturned) wrote: “To make matters worse, Mr. Busey was summarily fired and the transcript of his remarks hushed up. His remarks did not become known to the world until obtained on an FOIA request from attorney James Jeffries, III, of Greensboro, N.C.”

Given the steep penalties for mere possession of an unregistered firearm regulated under the NFA (minimum sentence: up to 10 years’ imprisonment and/or a fine of $10,000 for each violation), there is a high RISK to lawful transferees associated with the poor condition of the NFRTR brought about by neglect and/or willful violation of the law by the government agency charged with upholding this law.

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Did I read this correctly? Did the fellow just admit that the BATF routinely commits perjury in ALL trials of gun law violations? That’s going some even for the Gooferment.