pistol which he had purchased in March or April of 1991 from Steve Kirby. Kirby was a federally licensed firearms dealer  who owned a gun shop called Steve's Guns. Kirby sold the pistol to Brian Tackett for $500 at Kirby's house. At that time,  Kirby failed to fill out the requisite firearms transaction record, called a "form 4473," which was to reflect the correct  purchaser and date of purchase of the firearm.
In September or October of 1992, following the indictment of Brian Tackett for arson but before his trial, Grayson  Tackett entered Steve Kirby's gun shop to "settle up" for the gun that Brian had purchased eighteen months earlier. Kirby  remembered that Brian had paid for the gun in full during the exchangeat Kirby's house, but that a form 4473 had not been  completed. Despite this knowledge, Kirby agreed to record Grayson Tackett's name as the gun purchaser on a pre-dated  form. When Kirby expressed his belief that the gun had been purchased in the first quarter of 1991, Grayson directed him  to "put down 12-16-91, that's a good date." Kirby did as Grayson suggested, not realizing the significance of the December  16th date. Barren River Baptist Church had burned down on December 6, 1991.
Several months later, Linda Tackett entered Kirby's gun shop and requested to see records of all gun purchases made by  Grayson. She stated that she wanted to give a copy of the form 4473 that described Grayson's purchase of the colt