Problems regarding a FOIA filed with the Department of the Army

[SmokeEaTerPilot]

Greetings,

I appreciate any help and suggestions anyone can offer for this.

I'll make this as brief as possible.

There are some records some records I filed a FOIA to obtain copies of. They were in the "unclassified" category.

These are primarily sales records of various obsolete small arms sold through the Division of Civilian Marksmanship (DCM) between 1921-1942. The DCM no longer exists it was handed over to a civilian organization Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) in 1996.

Most the sales taking place between 1920-1940. No Personal Protective Information is included in these records. It's just a date, type of firearm (rifle typically), serial number of the firearm. name of buyer and address. Very basic information.

The name and addresses were redacted as it might invade privacy rights. It would be a very rare possibility that these individuals are still living. The majority of these buyers died in the 1970s and 1980s. I have included a portion of the e-mail back concerning their reasoning at the Department of the Army (below)/

My question, are privacy rights protected after death? If so is there a limitation on how long they are protected? Full service records (including medical) are permitted at the National Archives as long as the individual separated service around the same time as the end of World War II (I forgot the specific date).

Next, I have not been quoted a direct DOD Regulation or DOD Directive as to why these records can't be released. Does that matter, A few individuals in the US Army have recommended to me I request a specific DoD Regulation/Directive, because if that can't be provided they the records should not be withheld.

Lastly, these records were released about 30-40 years ago to a single individual, he has died in the early 2000s. If these records were released before, should that make releasing them again possible?

I thank you very much for your help

 

[Zigner]

Why do you care who the buyers were?

 

[adjusterjack]

I'm happy that the US Government isn't releasing any firearms ownership record (dead or alive) to anybody that comes along asking for them.

It's a step in the right direction.

There isn't any good reason for anybody to have those records.

 

[Tax Counsel]

The problem you have is that while many of the buyers may be dead, some of the buyers may not be, and thus the release of their information would implicate privacy concerns. The DOD does not have to do the leg work to determine which buyers are dead and which are not in processing your request. The fact that the records were released once 3 to 4 decades ago doesn't help you. It may be (and probably was) the case that the DOD improperly released that information at the time. The fact that it was improperly released once would not mean that now the agency must make what would be an improper release to everyone else who wants that information.

You are free to go to federal district court after exhausting all agency appeals and have a judge decide if the records were improperly withheld.

 

[flyingron]

The Privacy Act didn't come into effect until 1975, so it's quite possible the previous disclosures were proper. TC gave the best answer, so I'll not repeat any of the points made there.

 

[SmokeEaTerPilot]

Thanks all for your help.

The National Archives and Records Administration in St. Louis provided some great information, turns out the only Federal regulations that cover this are that the records become public records after 62 years (if they're not classified). That's the standard apparently NARA uses for releasing full personnel record (which includes detailed medal records in a service file). Their archivist is going to e-mail me the citation concerning this regulation which should help with the argument.

Also, I learned (thanks to a USMC officer helping out on this) that since the DoD could not produce a specific Regulation or Directive that they can not release them, it makes more difficult for the DoD withhold the records.

As far as the purpose of this. One of the requested records on this FOIA request is to one of my clients that is a curator of a museum. They have a rifle that was purchased via this program in the 1920s. The rifle was sold as a bolt-action then converted to a semi-automatic by an inventor and then patented. The designer of the action can be identified through the patent records, but who originally purchased the rifle can also help shed more light on this story for their exhibit.

Thanks for the help all!

 

[flyingron]

Gosh, if it's NARA you're lucky that the records weren't destroyed. They lost a good portion of personnel records in a fire a few years back.

 

[adjusterjack]

As far as the purpose of this. One of the requested records on this FOIA request is to one of my clients that is a curator of a museum. They have a rifle that was purchased via this program in the 1920s. The rifle was sold as a bolt-action then converted to a semi-automatic by an inventor and then patented. The designer of the action can be identified through the patent records, but who originally purchased the rifle can also help shed more light on this story for their exhibit.

Suggest to your curator client that he contact the Smithsonian for help. They have experts that know how to ferret out that kind of information.