Holder: Hey, Those Illegal Guns Sold to Mexican Drug Thugs Will be Killing for a Long Time to Come
I did a post on CW about info Sharyl Attkisson (kudos) at CBS News gathered from last Friday's weekend docu-drop of DOJ "Fast and Furious" emails titled “Demand Letter 3". It adds fuel to the suspician the operation's core agenda was to build an argument/case for further gun restrictions on law abiding American citizens and legal gun dealers' sales. Check below the fold for the content, since CW is giving some folks security warnings (still looking into it, BTW).
But here is the latest as AG Eric Holder is before the House hearing today:
Attorney General Eric Holder suggested Thursday that weapons lost during the course of the failed "Fast and Furious" gunrunning operation will continue to show up at crime scenes in the U.S. and Mexico "for years to come."
Holder, in testimony on Capitol Hill that comes as the congressional investigation into the program expands, decried the "gun-walking" tactic used in the operation as "inexcusable" and "wholly unacceptable." But a day after an influential senator called for the resignation of one of Holder's top deputies over the scandal, Holder denied department leaders played any role in the crafting of "Fast and Furious."
He continued to assert that top Justice officials were not told about the "inappropriate tactics" until they were made public.
Still, the top law enforcement official in the country conceded that, as a result of "Fast and Furious," guns lost by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives remain in the hands of criminals.
"Although the department has taken steps to ensure that such tactics are never used again, it is an unfortunate reality that we will continue to feel the effects of this flawed operation for years to come," he said. "Guns lost during this operation will continue to show up at crime scenes on both sides of the border."
Hope and change...
I certainly hope Rep. Issa and Sen. Grassley are also looking into the blatant attempt by this administration, the ATF, and the DOJ/Holder to infringe on our 2nd Amendment rights by usurping our gun rights by creating a good crisis not to waste...
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."
[...]
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.
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."
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."
[...]
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."
Then there is the DEA's and DOJ's alleged money laundering for the Mexican drug cartels just being cracked open amid all of this:
Democrat Congressman Luis Gutierrez has joined the Congressional voices calling for Eric Holder's resignation ... or firing.
The country's in the very best of hands...
Holder looks worse in every new picture, like a crumbling shell. I'm reminded of The Picture of Dorian Gray.
[...] asombra: Holder looks worse in every new picture, like a crumbling shell. I’m reminded of The Picture of Dorian... [...]
[...] asombra: Holder looks worse in every new picture, like a crumbling shell. I’m reminded of The Picture of Dorian... search babalu [...]
[...] trying to recall the significance of 2008… I really cannot, for the life of me, understand the reasoning behind 2008′s gun sales surge, or even think of a reason why citizens would lawfully exercise our US Constitutional 2nd Amendment [...]
Is it me, or does Holder look like a ghoul or zombie whose soul has been removed? It's creepy, at least to me.