Patrick
MSI Executive Member
Apparently the rumors around the ATF Project Gunrunner have been looked into by aides to Senator Grassley and there may be some fire to go with the smoke. I have avoided the story because it smacks of tinfoil hats and was sourced using anonymous resources, then reported in the Examiner.
But Grassley says he has seen some damning documentation and apparently a recently retired ATF attache to Mexico is ready to also spill some beans.
In a nutshell, Gunrunner is the ATF task force/investigation designed to ferret out cross-border transfers of US guns to Mexican drug cartels and gangs. It has been a disappointment in the sense that only low-level operators have been nabbed. Outside of one recent bust of more than a dozen low-level people on the US side, 67% of all prosecutions were of lone operators and profiteers. Hardly kingpin material there.
The rumors are that an office in Arizona - with headquarters approval - "walked" 500 AR-15 rifles from the US to Mexico to pad the numbers of guns later traced back to the USA, without the involvement of the Mexican Government. Again, the source was questionable.
Then, it was rumored that one of those rifles was used to kill border patrol agent Brian Terry in Arizona in December.
Grassley just wrote two letters to ATF demanding interviews, information and warning them to stop trying to influence an inside "whistleblower" who was talking to his office. Grassley says point blank they have reviewed documentary evidence and it looks like it is credible and partially corroborates the claims. Mainstream Media is starting to pick it up, but slowly given the paucity of credible sources here. Until Grassley got involved, this was all tinfoil hat stuff.
Also, a lawyer for a chain of gun stores in Texas says that his clients were asked by the ATF to allow suspected straw-purchases so that they could later "track them to their destinations". This chain has been ripped by the media in the past few months for allowing these purchases in the first place. They are tired of the buzzsaw and are speaking out. Rumor (again) says there are more, including another big seller in Arizona who has been fed to the lions these last few months.
Again, this is from the Examiner. BUT...Grassley's people have looked into it and they think it's real.
If this reporting is true, it makes the US Government complicit in arming the Mexican Cartels. The last time we got caught doing that was Iran-Contra...and at least there it was to get back hostages.
If confirmed, this would be either a well-intentioned but poorly executed investigation trying to track guns to the Kingpins, or a highly cynical attempt by some in the government to manufacture a problem they could later "solve". Either way it is bad, especially in light of the ATF and Justice Department using the guns they were allegedly moving into Mexico to push restrictions on US persons not involved in the least.
This could kill ATF and force whatever remains of it into the FBI and DHS. But only after the ATF agents involved fill out their new multiple-sales reporting cards. In triplicate.
But Grassley says he has seen some damning documentation and apparently a recently retired ATF attache to Mexico is ready to also spill some beans.
In a nutshell, Gunrunner is the ATF task force/investigation designed to ferret out cross-border transfers of US guns to Mexican drug cartels and gangs. It has been a disappointment in the sense that only low-level operators have been nabbed. Outside of one recent bust of more than a dozen low-level people on the US side, 67% of all prosecutions were of lone operators and profiteers. Hardly kingpin material there.
The rumors are that an office in Arizona - with headquarters approval - "walked" 500 AR-15 rifles from the US to Mexico to pad the numbers of guns later traced back to the USA, without the involvement of the Mexican Government. Again, the source was questionable.
Then, it was rumored that one of those rifles was used to kill border patrol agent Brian Terry in Arizona in December.
Grassley just wrote two letters to ATF demanding interviews, information and warning them to stop trying to influence an inside "whistleblower" who was talking to his office. Grassley says point blank they have reviewed documentary evidence and it looks like it is credible and partially corroborates the claims. Mainstream Media is starting to pick it up, but slowly given the paucity of credible sources here. Until Grassley got involved, this was all tinfoil hat stuff.
Also, a lawyer for a chain of gun stores in Texas says that his clients were asked by the ATF to allow suspected straw-purchases so that they could later "track them to their destinations". This chain has been ripped by the media in the past few months for allowing these purchases in the first place. They are tired of the buzzsaw and are speaking out. Rumor (again) says there are more, including another big seller in Arizona who has been fed to the lions these last few months.
Again, this is from the Examiner. BUT...Grassley's people have looked into it and they think it's real.
If this reporting is true, it makes the US Government complicit in arming the Mexican Cartels. The last time we got caught doing that was Iran-Contra...and at least there it was to get back hostages.
If confirmed, this would be either a well-intentioned but poorly executed investigation trying to track guns to the Kingpins, or a highly cynical attempt by some in the government to manufacture a problem they could later "solve". Either way it is bad, especially in light of the ATF and Justice Department using the guns they were allegedly moving into Mexico to push restrictions on US persons not involved in the least.
This could kill ATF and force whatever remains of it into the FBI and DHS. But only after the ATF agents involved fill out their new multiple-sales reporting cards. In triplicate.