Obama administration under mounting pressure: gun-runner

[rugersol]

... from ... http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/28/obama-administration-mounting-pressure-botched-gun-trafficking-investigation/ ...

Under Project Gunrunner and the Phoenix off-shoot, dubbed Fast and Furious, the ATF encouraged gun store owners to sell to straw buyers -- consumers who they suspected of working on behalf of Mexican drug cartels. Buying guns for non-personal use is illegal. Yet gun store owners were assured by ATF agents the buyers were under investigation and the guns were being intercepted before crossing into Mexico.

President Obama, speaking for the first time about the growing scandal, conceded last week Fast and Furious may have been "a serious mistake," but he claimed, "I did not authorize it; Eric Holder, the attorney general, did not authorize it.

Both gun stores felt burned by the ATF -- first by leaked records to the Washington Post that showed the two stores responsible for dozens of guns found at Mexican crime scenes, and now by Operation Fast and Furious. "You assumed they had your back," added J&G President Brad Desaye. "Absolutely, we felt like partners with ATF in a lot of ways."

He is referring to Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent Jamie Zapata.

The guns used to kill both men have been linked to Project Gunrunner, which purposely allowed the straw buyers to illegally buy and export guns only to see where they surfaced in Mexico. Using this investigative technique, the ATF hoped to take down the entire gun trafficking organization. Instead, records show it allowed more than 1,700 guns, including hundreds of AK-47s and high-powered, armor-piercing .50-caliber rifles to be trafficked to Mexico.

Humberto Trevino, a senior Mexican lawmaker, says at least 150 people have been shot with ATF-monitored guns.

If the DOJ and ATF refuse to deliver the records Issa requested, as it already has done with similar requests by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Issa can subpoena the records.

[Heffay]

Keystone cops at their best.

"Let's release thousands of guns to illegal buyers and see what happens."

[Geezer43]

And if something bad happens as a result, we will blame the gun store owners, the lax regulation of guns, and the abundance of readily available guns in America.

[JeremiahMN]

Hopefully those guns didn't hold more than 10 bullets. I heard on MSNBC that they weren't dangerous then.

[ComradeBurg]

And if something bad happens as a result, we will blame the gun store owners, the lax regulation of guns, and the abundance of readily available guns in America.

Government in action. First they create the problem, then they blame somebody else, and finally they claim a road to salvation has been found in the form of regulations against those they blamed.

[hammAR]

This is like deja vu all over again combined with Groundhog Day............

I'm gonna keep repeating this till some of you are sick of it and most of you get it.

"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt."

[Spartan]

Has been a study by an expensive commsion done yet? That is next next step The Givernment needs to form a Billion SS commission to study this. Never mind the commsisons and task forces that already exsist... this is a YES WE CAN commission.
Give a man a fish and he eats for a day.... teach him to fish ... and then They can finance a boat, tax him and regulate how many fish he catches.

[Ramoel]

The BATFE people blowing the whistle in Phoenix say that Homeland security signed off on it. Big news down here in AZ where a lot of the guns were sold. Even the local liberal newspapers think the whole thing stinks! I doubt that Holder "knew nothing" but I'm sure that some BATFE higher up will take the fall.

Might even get suspended with pay if they really throw the book at him.

[rugersol]

I don't expect to see anyone of any significance take much of a beating, over this ... but it WOULD be nice to see CBS, NBC, ABC, and CNN make the BIG DEAL about this ... the TRUTH, this time ... that they did when they claimed it was our "lax gun laws" that allowed this to happen.

Odds? ... anyone?

[hammAR]

I don't expect to see anyone of any significance take much of a beating, over this ... but it WOULD be nice to see CBS, NBC, ABC, and CNN make the BIG DEAL about this ... the TRUTH, this time ... that they did when they claimed it was our "lax gun laws" that allowed this to happen.

Odds? ... anyone?

Two quarters gets you a tampon...........

[PhilaBOR]

Actually, CBS has been reporting on it. http://www.cbsnews.com/1770-5_162-0.html?query=gunrunner&tag=srch&searchtype=cbsSearch

I must be really paranoid, I wonder if it was a false flag operation with Holder and/or Obama's approval to pump the number of traces so they can ban military pattern semiautomatic firearms and standard capacity magazines. After all, what's a few dead Feds and a few hundred more dead Mexicans in the scheme of things.

and no, I'm not a 911 truther or birther...well maybe a birther.

[nyffman]

So far, this has been kept mostly under the radar in the US but in Mexico it's been a big deal for a while now. This is why the US Ambassador to Mexico, Carlos Pascual, has been sent home. The Obama media, MSNBC and the other usual suspects would like for you to believe this was due to the wikileaks cables, but I doubt it. If that was the case, why didn't this come down shortly after the cables were made public in December? Obama was interviewed by Univision. When asked about it, he said ".........this is a pretty big government, the United States government. I got a lot of moving parts." which, in politician speak means: "Um,,...look guys, I'm up to my ass in this thing and you'll um have to give me some time to figure a way um out of it."

[nyffman]

And the BATFE strikes again

Tom Edwards, the county attorney in rural Motley County east of Lubbock, said on Friday that the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives was responsible on Tuesday for sparking a fire that consumed 150 acres.

"You can quote me on it: That bunch has a real corner on stupid," Edwards told Reuters.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/13/us-wildfire-texas-blame-idUSTRE74C76T20110513

[ex-LT]

And the BATFE strikes again

Tom Edwards, the county attorney in rural Motley County east of Lubbock, said on Friday that the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives was responsible on Tuesday for sparking a fire that consumed 150 acres.

"You can quote me on it: That bunch has a real corner on stupid," Edwards told Reuters.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/13/us-wildfire-texas-blame-idUSTRE74C76T20110513

Tom Edwards is my new hero.

[gyrfalcon]

https://www.nra.org/fireholder/ <-- Sign it if you want to help turn up the heat.