Month: June 2011
by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer Is Not Pleased With ATF
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R-AZ) released a statement yesterday after listening to the Operation Fast and Furious hearings. She is not a happy camper – nor should she be given the impact of Project Gunwalker on her state.
Statement by Governor Jan Brewer
Federal Operation Fast and Furious placed Arizonans at risk
“I am outraged by findings in a new Congressional report that alleges federal agents were instructed to stand aside and do nothing as up to 2,000 weapons were illegally purchased in Arizona and resold. In many cases, the end result appears to have been the arming of violent drug cartels south of the border.
“During Operation Fast and Furious in 2010, according to this report, agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms were ordered to simply track these „straw buyer‟ weapons sales but not intervene. Longtime federal agents have now testified before Congress that allowing these weapons to leave the premises, a practice generally known as „gun walking,‟ was a marked departure from accepted law enforcement practices.
“ATF agents lost track of many of these weapons, including assault weapons and .50 caliber sniper rifles. A significant number undoubtedly found their way to Mexican drug cartels. Tragically, two AK-47s traced back to Operation Fast and Furious later turned up at the crime scene near Rio Rico, Arizona, where Arizona Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered by bandits. Authorities are still looking for the murder weapon.
“If the allegations contained in this Congressional report are accurate, then Operation Fast and Furious endangered the lives of innocent people on both sides of the border. The people of Arizona deserve answers from the Department of Justice and ATF as to how this could have been sanctioned, let alone encouraged. We may never know how many weapons illegally sold as part of this operation later turned up at a crime scene. But the connection between this failed federal operation and the death of Border Patrol Agent Terry is clear. The Congressional report puts it best: „The death of Border Agent Brian Terry was likely a preventable tragedy.‟”
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Anti-Hunting Campbell-DeFazio Amendment Voted Down in Congress
The NRA-ILA sent this out this evening:
Fairfax, Va. – A proposal by Congressmen John Campbell (R-CA) and Peter DeFazio (D-OR) to prohibit necessary and legal practices used to effectively manage wildlife and predator species was overwhelmingly defeated today in the House of Representatives. The amendment to H.R. 2112, the Agriculture appropriations bill, was strongly opposed by the NRA and other pro-hunting organizations. It was pushed by the Humane Society of the United States and other radical anti-hunting groups.
“Wildlife and wildlife predators cause hundreds of millions of dollars in damage annually to natural resources, public infrastructures, private property and agriculture,” said Chris W. Cox, executive director for NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action. “We will continue to oppose efforts like the Campbell-DeFazio Amendment that seek to diminish essential wildlife and predator management programs that protect our hunting heritage.”
The amendment would have drastically reduced funding to the Wildlife Service Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Program (WS), which is authorized by Congress to manage a program to decrease human-wildlife conflicts throughout the United States, including damage from predator animals.
Coyotes and other predators have decimated a great deal of the mule deer, moose and elk populations throughout the United States. As it stands, lethal predator control remains the best tool we have for keeping large predators in balance with existing habitat and the prey they require.
“This was yet another defeat for the anti-hunting agenda being pushed by the Humane Society of the United States”, concluded Cox. “The NRA will continue to fight to protect America’s hunting heritage from those who seek to eliminate it.”
-nra-
Misplaced Priorities
Unless you have been in a cave, the lead story in the news for the past couple of weeks as reported by the mainstream media has been about this man.
He is in the news because he was an idiot. He is married but sent a picture of his crotch to some female “admirer” living in the Seattle area. He thought it was going out privately but he sent it by Twitter.
You have heard very little in the so-called major media about this man who died in service to our country.
The first man is, of course, now-former Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY). I won’t bore you with the details except to say he is a narcissist and an idiot. The second man is U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry who was killed in Rio Rico, Arizona while on stake-out intercepting illegal aliens and drug smugglers. It is likely that he was killed with a firearm that was allowed to “walk” under an ATF operation called Fast and Furious.
The media has been following the Weiner story 24 hours a day, 7 days a week since it broke. As to Project Gunwalker and Operation Fast and Furious, only Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News and William LaJeunesse of FoxNews have been reporting on it. It has been virtually ignored by ABC News, NBC, the New York Times, and the Washington Post.
Let’s think about this for a minute. The first episode involves sexting, virtual cheating, and stupidity on the part of a venal man. The second episode involves a Federal agency who some believe – and I include myself – engaged in an operation who’s major purpose was to build support for new gun control laws. That operation involved straw purchases, subversion of their agency’s sworn duty, and allowing smuggling of guns into another sovereign nation in violation of that country’s laws. Two Federal law enforcement officers are now dead as well as an estimated 150 or more Mexican citizens thanks to the use of these “walked” firearms in the hands of the narco-terrorists.
What the hell is wrong with the mainstream media in this country that they virtually ignore a scandal that surpasses Iran-Contra and may border on Watergate to concentrate their efforts on a former darling of the Left who screwed up? The only thing hurt by Weiner was his family, his reputation, and his pride.
As I said, misplaced priorities.
Operation Wide Receiver
In Wednesday’s Outdoor Wire, Jim Shepherd reports on another botched ATF operation in southern Arizona. Called Operation Wide Receiver, it involved straw purchases, RFID chips and antennae, and aerial tracking. The operation was run out of the ATF field offices in Tucson approximately five years ago and like, Operation Fast and Furious, guns made it across the border into Mexico.
In Operation Wide Receiver, Tucson agents allowed the sales of more than 500 firearms to known straw purchasers. Like Gunrunner/Fast and Furious, the operation apparently backfired.
Some firearms in Wide Receive were equipped with RFID tracking devices. In Wide Receiver, it seems the illegal purchasers seemed more than slightly knowledgeable of the way the ATF and how to take their aerial and electronic tracking procedures down.
Knowing the time aloft numbers for virtually all planes used in government surveillance, the buyers had a simple method of getting their purchases across the border undetected. They simply drove four-hour loops around the area.
As surveillance planes were forced to return to base for re-fueling, the smugglers simply turned and sprinted their cargo across the border.
The RFID tags also turned out to be problematic.
Rather than making large enough holes for the tags to be laid out inside weapons, agents force-fit them into the rifles.
That cramming caused the antennae to be folded, reducing the effective range of the tags. And an already short battery life (36-48 hours maximum) meant that should purchasers allow the firearms to sit, the tracking devices eliminated themselves.
This sounds like something out of “The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight” but it’s not.
To date, Wide Receiver hasn’t really amounted to much in the way of interdiction, enforcement or prosecution, despite the huge amounts of surveillance video and audio evidence collected and the millions of dollars expended.
To date, sources tell us the only charges filed in the ongoing investigation are for falsifying Form 4473s. Not much of a return on an investigation that consumed millions of dollars in man-hours and money and placed the lives of law-abiding firearms dealers and their families in jeopardy.
From what Jim writes, this failed operation provided the operating blueprint for Operation Fast and Furious. Given how well Operation Wide Receiver turned out, you would have thought ATF would learned their lesson. I hope Jim will have more on this botched operation over the coming days and weeks.
UPDATE: Jim Shepherd has more on Operation Wide Receiver in The Outdoor Wire for June 16th.
Meanwhile, information collection regarding Operation Wide Receiver, the apparent predecessor of Fast and Furious continues. Since we first reported on the operation run out of the Tucson office, we have seen more information that confirms the fact that both ATF and Justice Department officials were not only aware of the operation five years ago, they have continued efforts to bring the investigation to some sort of closure.
This tickled something in the back of my head about Bill Newell, former SAC of the Phoenix Field Division, and Tucson. Mike Vanderboegh of Sipsey Street Irregulars had something from CleanUpATF on some such operation that was posted back in February. On February 22-23, there were two postings by a couple of CUATF regulars named Jumper and 1desertrat discussing George Gillett who was being accused at the time of retaliation towards a protected whistle-blower and was Acting SAC of the Phoenix Field Division.
1desertrat said:
This really sickens me to see Gillett getting rewarded for a history of misconduct and incompetence. It also appears he has not taken any heat on approving the Tucson version of phoenix’s “Gun Walker” in Tucson called linebacker or wide receiver (something like that)where he and Newell approved “walking” several hundred assault rifles to Mexico. Also, get this ……he approved the signing (and paying) of the FFL dealer as a CI, paid him as a CI and allowed him to profit from the illegal straw purchases ATF directed him to do…..what a deal! What do you think would be happening right now if one of those guns were linked to the Tucson shooting of Rep Gifford? How about it Senator Grassley…..are these ATF supervisors really the “untouchables”? Retaliation by ATF management is a way of life in ATF. Why……because all know management is corrupt and will pull out all stops to protect one another and NOTHING ever happens!
Jumper responded:
The best part of this post (if you enjoy hypocracy) is that The Retaliator (Gillett) actually tried to terminate two of the smartest and most productive agents in Phoenix for what he personally deemed to be mismanagement of government funds in the payment of an informant. The Retaliators ruling was overturned by higher ups based on their conclusions that Gillett didn’t know what he was talking about but its still pretty funny. Wait till the press gets ahold of Gunrunner II, the Tucson Experiment. Can you imagine the pucker factor Newell and Gillett experience every time a shooting takes place involving a 7.62 round? Give them some coal and turn both of them into a diamond factory.
Very interesting. I get the feeling that if Operation Wide Receiver is added to Operation Fast and Furious it will make those wildfires sweeping Arizona currently look small by comparison.
HB 650 Calendared For Concurrence Vote Today
The North Carolina State Senate passed HB 650 which amends various gun laws and implements a Castle Doctrine with a slight amendment from the version passed by the North Carolina House on June 7th. As a result, the House must hold a concurrence vote on the Senate amended version. That vote is scheduled in the State House tonight.
GRNC is pushing to have it passed as is with no more amendments.
Thanks to Sean for pointing out I was off a day! He has more on the bill here. The Virtual Stepdaughter is getting married on Saturday so I ought to know the day of the week – or not.
UPDATE: When I first posted this, I was off a day. Turns out I was mistakenly correct. The vote has been rescheduled from Wednesday to today.