Documents obtained by CBS News show that the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) discussed using their covert operation "Fast and Furious" to argue for controversial new rules about gun sales.
In Fast and Furious, ATF secretly encouraged gun dealers to sell to suspected traffickers for Mexican drug cartels to go after the "big fish." But ATF whistleblowers told CBS News and Congress it was a dangerous practice called "gunwalking," and it put thousands of weapons on the street. Many were used in violent crimes in Mexico. Two were found at the murder scene of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.
ATF officials didn't intend to publicly disclose their own role in letting Mexican cartels obtain the weapons, but emails show they discussed using the sales, including sales encouraged by ATF, to justify a new gun regulation called "Demand Letter 3". That would require some U.S. gun shops to report the sale of multiple rifles or "long guns." Demand Letter 3 was so named because it would be the third ATF program demanding gun dealers report tracing information.
On July 14, 2010 after ATF headquarters in Washington D.C. received an update on Fast and Furious, ATF Field Ops Assistant Director Mark Chait emailed Bill Newell, ATF's Phoenix Special Agent in Charge of Fast and Furious:
"Bill - can you see if these guns were all purchased from the same (licensed gun dealer) and at one time. We are looking at anecdotal cases to support a demand letter on long gun multiple sales. Thanks."
On Jan. 4, 2011, as ATF prepared a press conference to announce arrests in Fast and Furious, Newell saw it as "(A)nother time to address Multiple Sale on Long Guns issue." And a day after the press conference, Chait emailed Newell: "Bill--well done yesterday... (I)n light of our request for Demand letter 3, this case could be a strong supporting factor if we can determine how many multiple sales of long guns occurred during the course of this case."
This revelation angers gun rights advocates. Larry Keane, a spokesman for National Shooting Sports Foundation, a gun industry trade group, calls the discussion of Fast and Furious to argue for Demand Letter 3 "disappointing and ironic." Keane says it's "deeply troubling" if sales made by gun dealers "voluntarily cooperating with ATF's flawed 'Operation Fast & Furious' were going to be used by some individuals within ATF to justify imposing a multiple sales reporting requirement for rifles."
The Gun Dealers' Quandary
Several gun dealers who cooperated with ATF told CBS News and Congressional investigators they only went through with suspicious sales because ATF asked them to.
Sometimes it was against the gun dealer's own best judgment.
Read the email:
In April, 2010 a licensed gun dealer cooperating with ATF was increasingly concerned about selling so many guns. "We just want to make sure we are cooperating with ATF and that we are not viewed as selling to the bad guys," writes the gun dealer to ATF Phoenix officials, "(W)e were hoping to put together something like a letter of understanding to alleviate concerns of some type of recourse against us down the road for selling these items."
Read the email:
ATF's group supervisor on Fast and Furious David Voth assures the gun dealer there's nothing to worry about. "We (ATF) are continually monitoring these suspects using a variety of investigative techniques which I cannot go into detail."
Two months later, the same gun dealer grew more agitated.
"I wanted to make sure that none of the firearms that were sold per our conversation with you and various ATF agents could or would ever end up south of the border or in the hands of the bad guys. I guess I am looking for a bit of reassurance that the guns are not getting south or in the wrong hands...I want to help ATF with its investigation but not at the risk of agents (sic) safety because I have some very close friends that are US Border Patrol agents in southern AZ as well as my concern for all the agents (sic) safety that protect our country."
"It's like ATF created or added to the problem so they could be the solution to it and pat themselves on the back," says one law enforcement source familiar with the facts. "It's a circular way of thinking."
The Justice Department and ATF declined to comment. ATF officials mentioned in this report did not respond to requests from CBS News to speak with them.
The "Demand Letter 3" Debate
The two sides in the gun debate have long clashed over whether gun dealers should have to report multiple rifle sales. On one side, ATF officials argue that a large number of semi-automatic, high-caliber rifles from the U.S. are being used by violent cartels in Mexico. They believe more reporting requirements would help ATF crack down. On the other side, gun rights advocates say that's unconstitutional, and would not make a difference in Mexican cartel crimes.
Two earlier Demand Letters were initiated in 2000 and affected a relatively small number of gun shops. Demand Letter 3 was to be much more sweeping, affecting 8,500 firearms dealers in four southwest border states: Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas. ATF chose those states because they "have a significant number of crime guns traced back to them from Mexico." The reporting requirements were to apply if a gun dealer sells two or more long guns to a single person within five business days, and only if the guns are semi-automatic, greater than .22 caliber and can be fitted with a detachable magazine.
On April 25, 2011, ATF announced plans to implement Demand Letter 3. The National Shooting Sports Foundation is suing the ATF to stop the new rules. It calls the regulation an illegal attempt to enforce a law Congress never passed. ATF counters that it has reasonably targeted guns used most often to "commit violent crimes in Mexico, especially by drug gangs."
Reaction
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) is investigating Fast and Furious, as well as the alleged use of the case to advance gun regulations. "There's plenty of evidence showing that this administration planned to use the tragedies of Fast and Furious as rationale to further their goals of a long gun reporting requirement. But, we've learned from our investigation that reporting multiple long gun sales would do nothing to stop the flow of firearms to known straw purchasers because many Federal Firearms Dealers are already voluntarily reporting suspicious transactions. It's pretty clear that the problem isn't lack of burdensome reporting requirements."
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Latest from CBS -- Documents: ATF used "Fast and Furious" to make the case for gun regulations."
From Sharyl Attkisson:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
11 comments:
Don't stop with Breuer, Senator Grassley.
We want that goat ass sniffin' Holder. For starters.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/12/07/grassley-calls-for-top-justice-officials-resignation-over-fast-and-furious/
No one's asking the obvious...
Why should my God-given 2nd Amendment rights be infringed upon because of anything to do with Mexico - or Iran, Zimbabwe, or any other country in the world? Mexico is not the U.S. One more time - Mexico is not the U.S.
How did get dragged into the argument in the first place that whether or not U.S. guns end up in Mexico is somehow a cause for debating U.S. gun laws? Some of our 1st amendment rights have surfaced and been freely used among the rebellious youths in Iran against their government - do we need to curtail our 1st amendment rights so they don't do any damage to another country?
Gun-running is already illegal - we already have ample laws against it. How about enforcing those laws and quit trying to make new ones?
Does Mexico give a flying f whether their drugs, cartel violence, and illegal immigrants end up in our country? No.
So why should we care if our guns illegally end up in Mexico - due to U.S.'s and Mexico's corruption, lack of enforcement of existing laws, and lack of border security?
Frankly, I don't care if all of Mexico's guns come from the U.S. - that sounds like a call for better border security, not a change in U.S. 2nd amendment rights.
III
There are no other solutions.
The illegality and outright corruption of values by sworn federal law enforcement officers in the people's service to intentionally subvert the rights of citizens is nothing if not treason and sedition.
DISBAND THE ATF, ARREST, TRY AND PUNISH TO THE MAX ALL INVOLVED.
I am the owner of Foothills Firearms and am one of the two named gunshops in AZ who are suing the ATF over this demand letter. We knew right from the beginning that it was only a first step towards outright registration.
We will win I'm sure only to be appealed by the gov't with our tax dollars.
I have tried to do my part to stay the course and play by the rules, but it is VERY dis-heartening to continually see the people who are committing these crimes and treason getting "grilled" by the politicians in charge of nothing!
I'm damn sick of talk..............
A good question for Newell is how many multi-gun sales were there that didn't go to Mexico? I can't imagine the average Joe going into Lone Wolf and buying 10 AK 47s "for personal use." I can imagine Patino, who started out slow and bought as many as 40 at a crack as the ATF were ordered to stand down by DOJ, getting courage from the felonious policy.
Breuer didn't write the letter, Jason Weinstein, Burke and Hoover did. He lied about seeing it - and he was never sickened by the guns walking. He worried what the public would think when they found out, but then, it was all for a good purpose, he thought. So much for his sworn duty to protect instead of foment.
So, once again Mike's "allegations" have been proved true.
Mike (and others) knew Fast & Furious was about getting more gun control....and this latest round of emails disclosed by CBS proves it.
Well done Mike. You're more credible now than ever! :)
Sean
No offense intended toward Sheryl, as she has done a pretty good job so far, imho, but I still have to say this....
Now that CBS has finally "said" it, that GunWalker was meant to bolster gungrabbing politicians arguments for further infringements, is it finally now, suddenly, TRUE?
It is time for JAIL for multiple actors. Today had better produce some SERIOUS questions and some 5th responses, as opposed to typical dog and pony shows.....or the reality that the fix is in, from both parties.
Well, gun control is supposed to save lives. So obviously the Obama Administration had to illegally sell guns that killed people in order to prevent guns from killing people.
Let's not forget that the reason/s for doing the op was to enable the implementation of more gun controls as an end run around the Constitution, which was the first thing they did when these issues were brought to light.
It is treason, pure and simple.
It is murder, pure and simple.
It is conspiracy, pure and simple.
Their intentions were to act against the constitution and bill of rights.
Pure and simple.
But nobody really wants to go there because that would diminish government's power, wouldn't it?
@Anonymous: "Mexico is not the U.S. One more time - Mexico is not the U.S."
That may be true as a legal matter, but because of unchecked illegal immigration, much of the U.S. is now Mexico as a practical matter.
Post a Comment