Former ATF Agent Blasts GOP Fast & Furious Foolishness

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Republicans feign outrage over "Operation Fast and Furious," ensure more illegal firearms flood the streets.

Putting aside Tea Party, Fox News and crazy Republican conspiracies about President Obama plotting to take away "2nd Amendment liberties" through a misguided "gun walking" program across the Mexican border, Republican outrage over Operation Fast and Furious is bizarre. Republicans and their NRA sponsors have fought hard and spent millions to ensure that America is flooded with more guns than people. We've long been the headache of the rest of the world because of this top export.

The National Rifle Association (NRA), one of the most powerful lobbies in the US, has relentlessly tried to destroy the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) since it was created in 1972. They came close under Ronald Reagan in 1981, when the NRA pushed legislation to abolish the agency. Realizing that federal gun law enforcement would transfer to the then much esteemed Secret Service, the NRA scuttled the proposal. Ironically, when Reagan was shot that year, ATF agents were crawling over boxes in warehouses in order to follow the paper trail of purchases and gun ownership of the gun used to shoot Reagan and his Press Secretary Jim Brady. The NRA had successfully blocked computerization of records because that would amount to registration.

In 1990, I was an ATF agent in Virginia, considered the gun-running center of the east coast. There were no limits on gun purchases. So, drug dealers and gunrunners would drive from New York, D.C. and elsewhere and pay a Virginia resident to purchase a grocery list of weapons from legitimate gun shops. The shops would run a cursory background check on the straw purchaser with the local ATF office. Agents would rush to the gun store, but often be too late. Even if the gunrunners were still there, they needed to be caught crossing interstate lines before they ran afoul of very weak federal gun laws. By the time a solid case was built and a gunrunner was arrested, hundreds of guns had already hit the streets and many had been traced to crimes involving drug gangs, armed robberies, and police.

Around this time newspaper headlines documented dogs obtaining federal firearms licenses to sell guns and individuals selling guns from the trunk of their cars. Big city mayors were outraged and in 1993, Governor Douglas Wilder, Virginia's first black governor, instituted the One-Gun-A-Month Law.

The NRA's relentless attacks on federal and state gun laws continued. Its' support of the national database for criminal background checks was conditioned on prohibiting local ATF offices or other law enforcement agencies from accessing this information, further limiting ATF's investigative powers. The NRA also required that all records pertaining to the background checks be immediately destroyed. The NRA's Republican allies in congress also blocked legislation that would ban cop-killer bullets and assault weapons and close the gun show loopholes.

This past February, after almost 20 years, Virginia Republican Governor Bob McDonnell repealed the One-Gun-a-Month Law despite pleas from family members of shooting victims at Virginia Tech.

So, when San Diego's own Congressman Daryl Issa and his Republican cohorts in congress are shocked, shocked, shocked to find out the federal government allowed guns to get in the hands of Mexican drug dealers, perhaps they should look to their own complicity in the over 100,000 Americans who are shot every year and the more than 30,000 Americans who die each year because our government allows guns to get in the hands of violent criminals in our own country.

http://obrag.org/?p=62609

Edited June 24, 2012 by Mister Fancypants

[james&olya 1,121]

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Wouldn't be awesome if Darrell Issa were to subpoena all internal communication documents from the NRA that mention the ATF?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Oh, this gets more and more interesting as the layers of the onion are peeled...

What does House Oversight Committee Rep. Darell Issa want?

The House Oversight Committee has now been investigating "Fast and Furious" for over a year and a half, and it's been contentious every step along the way. Rep. Issa has called AG Holder a "liar", and has labeled the Obama Administration as "one of the most corrupt in history". I'm guessing Rep. Issa hasn't read "How to win friends and influence people". The Justice Department has handed over more than 7,600 documents related to the operation, but every time it has complied with the committee's requests Rep. Issa has demanded more. The demand that led to this week's standoff is Issa's demand for 1,600 additional documents relating to the Justice Department's strategy for responding to the Committee's investigation. It is these documents that President Obama declared Executive Privilege this week. Think of it as attorney-client privilege. An attorney and his client will discuss their strategy for winning a case, and the opposing attorney can't demand access to that – that's like a coach demanding to see the other team's game strategy. The opposing attorney can only demand any information relevant to the case, not the discussion between the other attorney and his client.

But even before President Obama declared Executive Privilege, AG Holder to make an offer to release 1,300 pages of the requested documents – BUT with one condition: if the committee would first agree that the production of these documents would end the committee's investigation of the Justice Department. After all, this investigation has already dragged on for a year and a half, and every time the Justice Department has complied with requests it has only been met with yet more demands. The attitude of the Oversight Committee seems to be that if they can't find what they want in almost 9,000 pages of documents, just keep digging – maybe they'll find gold in them thar hills. Somewhere. Somehow.

But now details are emerging that reveal what Rep. Issa really wants: someone's scalp. Or, in the words of Air Boss Johnson in the movie "Top Gun": "I want somebody's butt, I want it now. I want some butts!".

<b>

Rep. Darrell Issa's chief investigative counsel offered to stop the contempt vote against Attorney General Eric Holder in exchange for the resignation of Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer. Issa staffer Stephen Castor brought up the issue of "accountability" during a phone call with a senior DOJ official last week, according to the report. Castor reportedly said they could head off the contempt vote if Breuer stepped down.

DOJ officials think the offer to drop the contempt vote in exchange for Breuer's scalp was further evidence that Issa's investigation was more about making headlines than determining facts.

"The reason that this contempt motion happened is that Issa didn't come up with any evidence and didn't get a scalp," Matthew Miller, DOJ's former communications director, told Klaidman. "When you set expectations that high and you don't deliver, you have to explain why."

</b> That's it in a nutshell: Much ado about nothing, much ado about politics. After a year and a half of investigating, receiving and reviewing thousands and thousands of documents Rep. Issa and his "Oversight" Committee have come up with nothing in their witch hunt. No evidence that AG Holder and his Justice Department had any knowledge of the ATF's rogue operation, no evidence of any coverup, no evidence of any wrong doing. So instead of just sitting there with egg on his face looking stupid, Rep. Issa want's some butt. They wouldn't give him Asst. AG Lanny Breuer's, so now he wants to try to embarrass the President and AG Holder with trumped up contempt charges. It's Rep. Darrell Issa who should be held in contempt, contempt from the American people.

http://tucsoncitizen...rell-issa-want/

Edited June 24, 2012 by Mister Fancypants

[james&olya 1,121]

Oh, this gets more and more interesting as the layers of the onion are peeled...

[/b]

http://tucsoncitizen...rell-issa-want/

Issa is just playing to the 'base'! Look at how many on here just take his word for it that Holder is lying despite not having any proof! This is just like the Iraq war, they know what they want to do, they just can't find the 'facts' to justify it. But if they keep on digging who knows what they might find. There has to be some inconsistency SOMEWHERE at the DOJ! And if so Holder must be fired and Obama impeached!

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Issa is just playing to the 'base'! Look at how many on here just take his word for it that Holder is lying despite not having any proof! This is just like the Iraq war, they know what they want to do, they just can't find the 'facts' to justify it. But if they keep on digging who knows what they might find. There has to be some inconsistency SOMEWHERE at the DOJ! And if so Holder must be fired and Obama impeached!

The only real conspiracy is the NRA lobbying to try and cripple the ATF. What's interesting is that this gun running operation was a way to gather statistical data on the connection between guns and crime.

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.

...

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."

http://www.cbsnews.c...un-regulations/

Edited June 24, 2012 by Mister Fancypants

[one...two...tree 2,762]

The NRA is working to gut the latest federal gun bill

ONLY ABOUT 10 percent of the nation's 100,000 licensed gun dealers are audited each year by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The ATF cannot fine wayward dealers; its only tool at the moment involves revoking a miscreant's license. And that happens only about 100 times annually.

But even this level of scrutiny rankles the National Rifle Association, which is pushing for legislation that threatens to gut the ATF's already limited ability to keep illegal guns off the streets. The bill, formally known as the ATF Reform and Firearms Modernization Act, is making headway in both houses of Congress, with hearings likely to take place in the Senate this month. The bill should be dramatically rewritten or scrapped altogether.

Gun dealers make some legitimate arguments for revamping the ATF. Dealers say that the laws governing their business are often so vague that the ATF could pounce on an innocent typographical mistake to put their licenses in jeopardy. More precision in the language would help dealers know what is expected and give the ATF a solid legal basis to act. The bill would also allow the agency -- apparently for the first time -- to exact a sliding scale of fines.

But the bill goes much further than is necessary in reforming the law -- and in some instances does not go far enough. The legislation would allow the ATF to act only against dealers who "willfully" commit violations. At the same time, it would force the ATF to provide repeated warnings before moving against wayward dealers. The bar for action is set so high that it would make it all but impossible for the ATF to press forward with any case. These provisions are so alarming that even the Obama administration -- long AWOL on sensible and much needed gun regulations -- has raised concerns.

The bill in some instances would give gun dealers who had broken the law a free pass. For example, a dealer whose license had been revoked would be given 60 days to liquidate his inventory. Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a 500-strong coalition led by New York's Michael R. Bloomberg and Boston's Thomas M. Menino, rightly notes in opposing the bill that this provision would allow dealers the unacceptable opportunity "to transfer guns into their private inventory and sell them off without background checks."

As for the fines: Dealers could be fined a maximum of $15,000 a year even when they commit multiple "serious" violations. This is such a relatively paltry amount that it would be unlikely to have much impact.

http://www.washingto...0090603088.html

[Danno 1,228]

What did he know and when did he know it.

Holder you are not special, in the same way you investigate others, you too are subject to oversight from the Governmental body that created your dept.

Give it up or give up cuzz no one is going to blink here.

[Leatherneck 693]

The only real conspiracy is the NRA lobbying to try and cripple the ATF. What's interesting is that this gun running operation was a way to gather statistical data on the connection between guns and crime.

http://www.cbsnews.c...un-regulations/

Not according to ATF.

"ATF recognized the upward trend in violent, criminal acts along the Border and created a strategy to address it.

In partnership with other U.S. agencies and the Government of Mexico, ATF developed Project Gunrunner as a pilot initiative around 2005. Realizing its success, ATF nationalized the effort a little more than a year ago, in January 2008, to stem the flow of firearms into Mexico and reduce violence on both sides of the border." ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson, April 28, 2009.

Gathering data on the connection between guns and crime can be done by any university, professor, think tank or other individuals as is usually done. Giving firearms to known criminals is asinine regardless who does it.

Edited June 24, 2012 by Leatherneck

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Not according to ATF.

"ATF recognized the upward trend in violent, criminal acts along the Border and created a strategy to address it.

In partnership with other U.S. agencies and the Government of Mexico, ATF developed Project Gunrunner as a pilot initiative around 2005. Realizing its success, ATF nationalized the effort a little more than a year ago, in January 2008, to stem the flow of firearms into Mexico and reduce violence on both sides of the border." ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson, April 28, 2009.

Gathering data on the connection between guns and crime can be done by any university, professor, think tank or other individuals as is usually done. Giving firearms to known criminals is asinine regardless who does it.

Read the post below that - where the NRA was lobbying to cripple the ATF's authority to go after gun dealers.

[jkelly07 120]

it's all a bunch of bs, the real reason GOP and issa wants to go after AG ERIC HOLDER to stop him from going after GOP GOVERNORS to stop the righs for people to vote.congrass is wasting all this . why dont they talk about jobs,houseing ,college intrest lower for our kids.fixing the roads and bridges, and airports,etc

[Leatherneck 693]

A federal law enforcement agency directs gun stores to sale firearms to "straw buyers" which they know will be end up in the hands of criminal drug gangs, hitmen & murderers in Mexico.

More than 200 dead Mexican citizens are dead.

Two US agents, Jaime Zapata and Bryan Terry were killed with firearms found at the scenes, which are F&F weapons.

ATF discussed using the sales as part of a push for new gun control.

You have no problem with any of that? The victims' families and the public are not entitled to know who's responsible?

[Karee 4,191]

it's all a bunch of bs, the real reason GOP and issa wants to go after AG ERIC HOLDER to stop him from going after GOP GOVERNORS to stop the righs for people to vote.congrass is wasting all this . why dont they talk about jobs,houseing ,college intrest lower for our kids.fixing the roads and bridges, and airports,etc

Please speak English in this forum.

[slim 1,533]

The real conspiracy is there's an ATF in the first place. More government waste.