Tom Busey "Rollcall" video

ATFE has (or at least had) an in-house video training session known as "Rollcall." Some years ago the head of the National Firearms Act [NFA] Branch gave the instruction. NFA firearms are those subject to that statute (mainly full-auto weapons and short-barrelled rifles and shotguns), which requires that they be registered on a Form 4. About 600,000 firearms are so registered, and ATFE's NFA Branch keeps track of the registration; possession of an unregistered gun is a felony that carries up to 10 years' imprisonment.

Some years ago, Tom Busey, head of the NFA Branch, appeared on "Rollcall." When word of what he had said leaked out, the agency was not happy. Eric Larson put in a Freedom of Info request: ATFE refused to comply, claiming that releasing the tape would invade Busey's privacy! (Click here for the .pdf response). Eric managed to get a copy anyway.

Here's a shortened (and highly compressed--requires a mpeg4 player, meaning an up-to-date version of the Apple Quicktime or Windows media plugin) version of the tape. In it, Busey says that their database of registrations is flawed (up to a 50% error rate before he instituted controls that reduced it to 8%), but not to worry, his people will testify that the accuracy is 100%. He adds that he's heard of agents going on a raid for a supposedly unregistered gun, only to have the owner pull out his own copy of the Form 4 registration. (File size 2.2 megs).