Confirmed: Fast And Furious Docs Show Obama Admin Was Using The Program To Promote Gun Control

By: Poor Richard’s News -

It is what was widely suspected by cynical critics of the Federal government such as the writers of this blog, but now we have official confirmation that the Obama administration was using Operation Fast and Furious as an excuse to advocate for stricter gun control measures, even as the program funneled thousands of rifles to Mexican drug cartels.

from Sharyl Atkisson:

• ATF’s internal Public Affairs Talking Points show the agency was using Fast and Furious to help justify new gun control regulations–without telling the public that ATF was actually facilitating the delivery of weapons to Mexican drug cartels.
• The talking points (p. 15) state:

“These cases demonstrate the ongoing trafficking of firearms by Mexican DTO’s and other associated groups operating in Arizona and the need for reporting of multiple sales for certain types of rifles in order to ferret out those intent on providing firearms to these criminal groups.”

The newly released collection of documents related to Operation Fast and Furious also clearly show that this was not a botched operation by “rogue” agents as previously espoused by the Obama administration:

• While the Department of Justice was still insisting the gunwalking was a renegade operation conducted by rogue agents in Phoenix, the documents make clear ATF headquarters in Washington D.C. knew that weapons were being allowed to flow to Mexican drug cartels.
• For example, Fast and Furious began in October 2009. Washington D.C. talking points recount (p. 17) that:

“From October 2009 through October 2010, this organization, through the use of numerous straw buyers, purchased approximately 1.25 million dollars in firearms from FFLs [Federal Firearms License’s] in the Phoenix area and trafficked the firearms into Mexico and other locations within the United States.”

• Another example is an October 12, 2010 funding request to ATF headquarters in Washington D.C. (p. 40) from Phoenix Special Agent in Charge Bill Newell. It stated, in present tense (making clear that ATF was aware, in real time, that the weapons were being transported by ATF suspects to cartels on a continuing basis):

“The firearms are then being trafficked into Mexico using non-factory compartments in various vehicles through various Ports of Entry (POE’s) in Arizona and Texas. Since the ATF case was initiated, agents have identified approximately twenty-seven straw purchasers who have purchased a large amount of AK-47 style rifles and pistols from various FFLs in the Phoenix Metropolitan area and Prescott, Arizona, since September 2009.”

read the rest

You would think that any reporter with even a hint of dignity would be reporting on this story by now, especially with so much overwhelming evidence that the Obama administration’s corruption and law-breaking lead to the death of hundreds of Mexican civilians and at two US Federal agents.  But no; it’s still just Sharyl Atkisson, who had to leave her network to continue reporting on the story, and a handful of bloggers on the right like yours truly.