Posts Tagged ‘ATF’

Image from the Associated Press

Today, the House voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress over his failure to turn over documents related to the ATF program dubbed “Fast and Furious.” In case you’ve missed the news, “Fast and Furious” is the term used for an ATF investigative tactic that involved allegedly refraining from seizing guns that ATF agents believed were headed to criminals in Mexico. According to Republicans in Congress, ATF agents refused to seize these guns, even though they knew they were likely to be used in crimes, because they wanted to follow the guns to the criminal ringleaders. However, an article released yesterday in Fortune magazine suggests that the real reason the ATF agents didn’t intercede was because ATF’s legal advisors – the prosecutors who would have had to justify seizing the weapons in court – pointed out that no gun laws were being broken.

No gun laws were being broken? Considering the recent bloodshed in Mexico, this may appear hard to believe. Between 2006 and 2010, more than 23,000 people were killed in drug cartel violence south of the border. When the guns that are used in these crimes are traced, it turns out that 90% of these guns originated from gun dealers in the United States. Almost all of the guns being used by the cartels had originally been purchased at gun shops in the U.S. (mainly in Texas, Arizona, and California), then passed from hand to hand until they reached criminals in Mexico. Surely, you say, this level of gun trafficking can’t be legal. READ MORE »

The Truth About the Fast and Furious Scandal
Katherine Eban, Fortune, June 27, 2012

An important, in-depth investigation into the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) Fast and Furious program, a group of Phoenix, Arizona-area gun trafficking cases under ATF’s Project Gunrunner.  Project Gunrunner is a national initiative of ATF aimed at reducing U.S.-Mexico border drug and gun trafficking.

While most media stories have focused on the allegation that ATF let traffickers “walk” with guns – intentionally allowing criminal suspects to traffic firearms in the hope that the guns or the illegal possessor might lead law enforcement to more serious criminal activity – Fortune magazine’s investigation reveals that ATF never intentionally allowed guns to fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartels, contrary to the misinformation being disseminated by the gun lobby and those opposed to the Obama Administration.  The greatest problems with Fast and Furious have been ATF’s lack of resources to enforce federal laws, and convincing federal prosecutors that there are sufficient grounds to seize guns and arrest straw purchasers, cases made more difficult because of notoriously weak federal and state gun laws.

WHAT HAPPENED?
Wielding high-powered semiautomatic weapons that have been purchased legally in the United States, drug cartels have caused an epidemic of violence in Mexico.  In an effort to reduce the flow of weapons across the border, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) adopted a rule requiring federally licensed firearms dealers in the four U.S. states bordering Mexico to report sales of more than one semiautomatic rifle to the same person during five consecutive business days.  Because purchasing multiple firearms is a key indicator of illegal trafficking, reporting can help investigators to identify the sources of guns that are being trafficked into Mexico.  Nonetheless, firearms dealers filed suit in the District of Columbia, arguing that ATF had overstepped its authority under federal law in The National Shooting Sports Foundation v. Jones ATF.

HOW SAFETY WINS
A district court judge ruled for ATF, upholding its authority to require the reporting of multiple rifle sales.  With this important decision, ATF will be better equipped to combat the funneling of guns to Mexican cartels.