That old Gunwalker smell. Feds say Zapata killer's weapon was purchased "prior to law enforcement’s awareness of the purchase." Can we believe them?

Robert Farago at The Truth About Guns reports: Gunwalker Gun Implicated in Second Federal Agent’s Murder. He quotes an email blast by Jeff Knox's Firearms Coalition, who comments: "Kudos to Activists/Bloggers David Codrea and Mike Vanderboegh, who broke the "Project Gunwalker" scandal and brought it to Sen. Grassley's attention."

Yes, well. Kindly hold all applause until the end of the scandal.

Farago writes:

The gun that was used by a smuggler to kill ICE Agent Jaime Zapata last month in Mexico has been traced to a Texas gun shop, where it was purchased by suspected gun traffickers who had reportedly been under ATF surveillance for over a year.” An email blast from firearmscoalition.org provides more details . . .

According to an affidavit in the arrest of alleged straw purchasers, Otilio and Ranferi Osorio, and Kelvin Morrison, they had previously sold 40 guns to a federal agent, but had not been arrested.

Dallas ATF spokesman Tom Crowley would not release details about when the gun was purchased, or whether the suspected straw buyers were under active ATF surveillance at the time the murder gun was purchased. He referred questions on details to the U.S. Justice Department in Washington.

So far, DOJ has not been forthcoming. We received word from Sen. Chuck Grassley’s office today that AG Holder failed to respond to the Senator’s questions about the AZ scandal by the Feb. 23 deadline Grassley had set.

Today, The Firearms Coalition asked Sen. Grassley to call for hearings into both the AZ and Texas investigations, requiring ATF Executives to testify under oath. We received assurance today that the Senator remains resolute, and that staffers are burning the midnight oil on this investigation.

You may recall that this is the second time a gun linked to the ATF’s “look the other way” policy stateside has been implicated as a murder weapon in the death of a U.S. federal agent. The Gunwalker scandal hit the MSM when the press learned that another such gun was used in the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

Farago concludes:

Since not one but two U.S. law enforcement officials were shot by U.S. smuggled guns, that can only mean one thing: the ATF allowed thousands of weapons to go walkies. This in an effort to justify Project Gunrunner, the ATF program designed to stop U.S. – Mexico gun running.

The ATF is attempting to keep a lid on the Gunwalker scandal. Can’t be done. Not only is Grassley breathing down their neck, and Agent Brian Terry’s family looking at launching a lawsuit (new info), but the gunrunners themselves will sing like los canarios.

Here's what the official DOJ press release says:

For Immediate Release
March 1, 2011 United States Attorney's Office
Northern District of Texas
Contact: (214) 659-8600

Three Dallas-Area Men Arrested on Federal Firearms Charges Related to Trafficking Firearms to a Mexican Drug Cartel

Ballistic Tests Trace One of the Firearms Used in February 2011 Shooting of ICE Agents to One of the Defendants

DALLAS—Three individuals have been arrested by agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), assisted by other state and local law enforcement, on federal firearms charges outlined in two complaints, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks for the Northern District of Texas and Special Agent in Charge Robert R. Champion of the ATF’s Dallas Field Office.

Ranferi Osorio, 27, and his brother, Otilio Osorio, 22, were arrested yesterday at their home on East Colonial Drive in Lancaster, Texas. Each Osorio brother is charged with possessing firearms with an obliterated serial number. Separately, according to information contained in one complaint, Mexican officials recently seized three firearms that were used in the deadly shooting on Feb. 15, 2011, of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent. One of the firearms recovered was traced by ATF to Otilio Osorio.

An additional defendant, Kelvin Leon Morrison, 25, who is charged in a separate federal criminal complaint, was arrested at his home next door to the Osorio brothers. Morrison is charged with knowingly making false statements in connection with the acquisition of firearms and dealing in firearms without a license.

A detention hearing for Morrison and Otilio Osorio is scheduled for today at 2:00 p.m. CT before U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul D. Stickney in Dallas. Ranferi Osorio’s detention hearing is scheduled for March 4, 2011, at 2:00 p.m. CT before Judge Stickney.

According to court documents filed in both cases, a Dallas ATF confidential informant (CI) arranged a meeting in early November 2010 with individuals who had firearms to be transported from Dallas to Laredo. The meeting was arranged related to an investigation of Los Zetas, a notoriously violent and ruthless drug trafficking organization. The weapons in question were ultimately seized by U.S. law enforcement near Laredo, before crossing the U.S./Mexico border.

According to the court documents, at the meeting, two men unloaded several large bags containing firearms into the CI’s vehicle, which was kept under surveillance until a traffic stop in Laredo. According to the court documents, the men’s vehicle was later stopped by LOCAL police and the men were identified as Ranferi and Otilio Osorio. Morrison was the third passenger in the vehicle. (MBV: Emphasis supplied.) The vehicle stopped in Laredo was searched and 40 firearms, all with obliterated serial numbers, were seized. Trace results indicated that three of these firearms could be specifically traced to Morrison, who bought them from federal firearms licensees (FFL) in the Dallas/Fort Worth area on Nov. 4, 2010. The investigation now has also revealed that on Aug. 7, 2010, (Emphasis supplied.) a Romarm, model WASR, 7.62 caliber rifle was discovered by law enforcement officers in LaPryor, Texas, near the U.S./Mexico border. Trace results indicated that Morrison purchased this firearm on July 30, 2010, from a FFL. According to the affidavit, between July 10, 2010, and Nov. 4, 2010, Morrison purchased 24 firearms from FFLs. (MBV: Emphasis supplied.)

In addition, according to one affidavit filed in the case, one of the three firearms used in the Feb. 15, 2011, deadly assault of ICE Special Agent Jaime Zapata that was seized by Mexican officials has been traced by ATF to Otilio Osorio. Otilio Osorio allegedly purchased that firearm on Oct. 10, 2010, in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, prior to law enforcement’s awareness of the purchase. (MBV: Emphasis supplied.) Ballistic testing conducted by Mexican authorities on this firearm indicated it was one of the three firearms used during the deadly assault on Special Agent Zapata’s vehicle.

It will be interesting so see what the trace results are for all these weapons. The timing of the various incidents would not seem to me to support the Fed's statement that the murder scene weapon was bought "prior to law enforcement’s awareness of the purchase." Why were these guys walking around free until a couple of days ago? All questions, and others, that must be answered under oath in front of a House or Senate committee.