Hearings scheduled to begin TOMORROW:

(Via HandGunClubAmerica) Last year there were some rumblings on a web forum used by current and former agents of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATF or ATF) about the agency allowing guns into Mexico. As we have learned since then, the BATF claims they were attempting to find the sources of guns being smuggled into Mexico and who the higher-level “brokers” of these guns were.

In order to do this, in 2009, BATF hatched a scheme to allow sales of firearms to be approved by the National Instant Check System (NICS) to suspected or known cartel associates and persons who might otherwise be stopped by the system. The supposed purpose was to allow these purchases to proceed and track them to their destinations. This would give BATF information on how the Mexican drug cartels were obtaining weapons and potentially allow the agency to arrest the smugglers and dealers with the help of Mexico’s Federales.

Since 2005, the BATF was directed by the Bush administration to stop weapons from being smuggled across the border into Mexico. Those operations largely succeeded because the BATF investigated the buyers and arrested many of them for a “straw purchase,” which is when one person with a clean record buys a firearm for someone who couldn’t pass a background check. These buyers would then illegally attempt to smuggle the guns into Mexico and sell them to criminals.

The changes in tactics were conceived after the bureau was criticized for not conducting more complex investigations on straw buyers. Rather than just take down low-level straw buyers here and there, the agency hoped by ‘letting the guns walk’ that the sales would lead investigators to cartel members higher up in the organization.

Records show Gunrunner was aware of more than 1,000 weapons sold from 10 Arizona gun stores to roughly 50 straw buyers. More than two-thirds of those guns have already been recovered at crime scenes in the U.S. and Mexico.

“What people don’t understand is how long we will be dealing with this,” ATF agent and whistle-blower John Dodson said Tuesday. “Those guns are gone — gone. You can’t just give the order and get them back. There is no telling how many previous crimes will be committed before we get to them.”

Gun Dealers Question BATF Practice

Gun dealers are the first line of defense against “straw purchases” and dealers who suspected the buyer of not being legitimate became concerned when they were cleared by the NICS checks. Some began to question what was going on. BATF was forced to meet with some of these dealers and assure them that there would be no legal repercussions or liability if the guns were used in a crime.

“They would tell us — we would say — ‘do you want us to stop selling? Is there something we should do here? And they would say “No, no, no — continue selling — just tell us after the fact,” said Brad Desaye, owner of J & G Gun Sales in Prescott, Ariz. J&G sold 60 guns to alleged straw buyers. ATF agents told him on the phone and in person to let the sales happen.

Angry BATF Agents Protested Methods Used

However, several agents in the Phoenix, Arizona office, from where this scheme was run, objected to the methods. They objected to allowing known drug cartel associates to obtain functional weapons and simply walk off with them. The biggest problem, they said, was that sooner or later other federal agents would be confronted with these same weapons and someone could get killed. These objections and concerns were raised with the Agent In Charge of the Phoenix office who dismissed them. In fact, the agents were essentially told in via e-mail that it was a team effort and they had better get with the plan or they might lose their jobs. This was six months before the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010.

Federal Agents Killed – Weapons Turn Up at Scenes

Agent Terry was killed in December during what should have been a “routine” border crossing interdiction. Instead, a brief firefight ensued and Terry was killed. An AK type rifle found at the scene was traced back to one of the gun dealers who sold the gun with BATF approval. So far, it does not appear that this particular firearm was responsible for Agent Terry’s death. However, its use at the scene indicates the prophetic nature of the earlier complaints by BATF field agents.

In February, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agent Jaime Zapata was killed in Northern Mexico when Mexican gangs attacked the vehicle in which he was traveling. The agent had been disarmed per Mexican policy and was unable to defend himself. Weapons found near the scene were traced back to from a suspected gun smuggler in Texas. That man was arrested within days of the Zapata murder.

By this time, an estimated 1,700 weapons had crossed the border. These include AK and AR-style rifles and some .50 caliber rifles as well.

Word Leaks Out

The scheme was uncovered and spread through several gun-rights Internet Blogs, primarily due to the work of National Gun Rights Examiner David Codrea and independent blogger Mike Vanderboegh. Both Codrea and Vanderboegh worked behind the scenes to provide information from confidential BATF sources with members of Sen. Chuck Grassley’s staff. Late in February, CBS News investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson began reporting on the controversy, as did several other members of the nationwide Gun Rights Examiner team.

According to the CBS report, this “Fast and Furious” scandal involves more than just the BATF. CBS says documents show ATF had conference calls with Homeland Security (DHS), the U.S. Marshal Service (USMS) and Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). The Fast and Furious team also included an agent from ICE, and they were advised by an “AUSA” (Assistant US Attorney) under the Justice Department.

Until now, administration officials blamed Mexico’s drug violence on Arizona and border state gun shops, repeatedly making the false claim that 90% of the guns recovered in Mexico were sold in the U.S. Brad Desaye, owner of J & G Gun Sales, paraphrasing Second Amendment activist Jeff Knox, says, “the truth is coming out. It’s becoming obvious the largest supplier to Mexican gun violence is ATF, not the dealers. And they are using us as scapegoats.”

The mainstream media picked up on it in January, and Senator Chuck Grassley (D-IA), ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, began asking ATF for information and documents on the projects they dubbed “Operation Gunrunner” and “Operation Fast and Furious.” The BATF provided no documents and told the Senator they would “never knowingly allow firearms to cross the border”. Grassley made his requests for documents formal in January. No documents were provided by either BATF or DOJ and Grassley fired off a terse letter to Attorney General Eric Holder about the DOJ stonewalling.

Media Spins The Story

Predictably, the Washington Post has spun the story to the left. They’re portraying the NRA as the cause of the problem, or at least complicit. When DOJ/ATF announced plans to require gun dealers to report multiple sales of long guns, the NRA objected with a grassroots campaign. The ire of its members stopped the requirement from being implemented. The Post, of course says the NRA used “political muscle to intimidate lawmakers” into killing the proposed law.

The Post also smears the integrity and legitimacy of people like Cordea in a March 9th article, claiming that the critics are anti-ATF and sympathetic to the militia movement. Eager to play down political embarrassment to its masters they characterize the ATF whistleblowers as having “misgivings” instead of being told they could lose their jobs for not following orders. The post also blamed “weak gun control laws” for the arms going to Mexico, not the BATF allowing them to continue moving there.

Congress Takes Notice

Grassley has lengthy correspondence and numerous documents he wants to post on the Senate Judiciary website, but sources on the Hill say Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy (D-VT) won’t allow it, refusing to call for an independent congressional investigation.

“I’m not satisfied with the inspector general there doing the investigation; to me it looks like a fox guarding the hen house,” said Grassley.

Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee, sent a letter to Acting ATF Director Kenneth E. Melson. In the letter Issa warned, “It has been brought to my attention that you are not cooperating with congressional inquiries about Project Gunrunner and Operation Fast and Furious.”

Issa went on to ask for specifics, setting a March 30, 2011 deadline for delivery of the requested materials. His request was for files and documents “including e-mails, relating to communications regarding Operation Fast and Furious between ATF headquarters and Special Agent in Charge (SAC) William D. Newell, Assistant Special Agents in Charge (ASAC) Jim Needles and George Gillette, Group Supervisor David Voth, or any Case Agent from November 1, 2009 to the present.”  Issa appears to know exactly what he’s looking for, specifically saying “The response to this request should include a memorandum, approximately 30 pages long, from SAC Newell to ATF headquarters following the arrest of Jaime Avila and the death of Agent Brian Terry.”

Meanwhile, Grassley obtained dozens of documents from whistle-blowers. These documents, Grassley says, indicate the BATF allowed arms to be sold and that BATF knew that some of these arms crossed into Mexico delivered to illegal dealers south of the border.

Many of these documents came directly from BATF agents still inside the agency. These whistleblowers recognized that the scheme was not working and that people were being killed with the guns BATF allowed to cross the border. Other letters surfaced, some dating back a full year, from the local gun dealers to the BATF. The dealers were seeking assurances from the BATF at the highest levels that they would not be held responsible, criminally or civilly, for allowing the firearms to be transferred to questionable buyers. One Arizona dealer even said he worried that these firearms would be used against Border Patrol agents who were his friends and sought assurance from BATF that the guns “would not be allowed to cross the border”.

One BATF agent wrote that he was following a suspected gun smuggler who was heading for the border. When he radioed that he was going to interdict the smuggler before he could cross the border, he was twice ordered to merely observe, but not interfere. Against his desire to apprehend the smuggler, he followed the orders and watched the car cross into Mexico.

BATF continues to resist efforts to disclose information to Congress and Congressman Issa has threatened to find ATF in contempt of Congress if they are not more forthcoming. Issa issued a subpoena on April 1st after ATF failed to respond to his deadline for answers. So far, the BATF and DOJ have ignored the subpoena’s April 13 deadline. As Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), a member of the Oversight committee said on Fox News, “You can’t ignore a subpoena in this country and that’s what BATF and DOJ have done. That’s why we’re going to proceed with the Contempt charges.”

Politics Comes to Play

Some in Washington are claiming this is merely a Republican media circus to embarrass a Democrat administration. Politics be damned, the facts have to be addressed. If BATF allowed over 1,700 firearms to find their way into the hands of Mexican drug cartels, even with good intentions, some people ought to lose their jobs. In fact, the “management” personnel in charge of the program and their superiors who approved it should be fired. And I include anyone in the Attorney General’s office, including Eric Holder.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., who also sits on the House Oversight Committee, is standing behind both the Justice Department and the ATF in their refusal to give up documents about the operation, saying that it could jeopardize it.

“Our committee has a responsibility to investigate allegations of waste, fraud and abuse,” Cummings said. “However, despite my repeated requests, Chairman Issa has refused to meet with the Department of Justice to ensure that his actions do not compromise ongoing investigations and prosecutions, including a trial of 20 individuals that is scheduled to begin in June.”

There have been rumors that the whole project was merely a scheme by the BATF to support another “assault weapons” ban and more gun control. So far, none of the documents supports that claim, though one skeptic wondered why cartel members would simply drop and leave a nearly brand new AK rifle behind at the scene.

The BATF has always been something of a “rouge” agency, playing fast and loose with the constitutional rights of gun owners and especially gun dealers. Abuses by the agency in the 70′s forced Congress to pass the Firearm Owner’s Protection Act (FOPA) in the 80′s, weak as it is, and slash the funding for ATF. Their charter is to uphold the federal gun control laws and enforce dealer compliance. Abandoning that charter to allow 1,700 guns to flow to Mexico for murder, terrorism and drug wars strips the BATF of credibility.

Brad Desaye, owner of J & G Gun Sales has good reason to suspect that the BATF may not live up to its word shielding gun dealers from lawsuits or charges. The practices of the firearms industry are constantly under scrutiny and attack by the anti-gun lobby and its lawyers. Very little political pressure would be required to get BATF put up a weak argument or remain silent. Nor is it hard to imagine a year or two down the road that new agents might seek out the smallest infractions to close down cooperating dealers.

Keep watching the news regarding this fiasco. Fasten your seatbelts, the spin will make you dizzy.  (more info)