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Report From This Week’s Firearms Industry Conference

August 3, 2011 by

The 2011 Firearms Industry Importer, Exporter and Manufacturer Conference is currently being held in Reston, VA. The conference started yesterday and ends today. It is sponsored by the NSSF, the FAIR Trade Group (firearms importers), and the National Firearms Act Trade and Collectors Association. This conference brings together experts from ATF with those in the firearms industry. The topics are heavy on compliance rulings, tax issues, and regulations.

I received an email yesterday with an update on what was discussed with emphasis on how it will impact you and me.

First, ATF made a public announcement of Ruling 2011-4. This ruling says that you can turn a pistol into a rifle and then back again into a pistol without violating the National Firearms Act. However, you still cannot turn a rifle into a pistol without ATF’s permission or it will be considered a NFA item. This ruling is not yet up on the ATF website.

Another issue discussed was armor piercing ammunition. Most of the discussion centered on bronze/brass bullets such as those made by Elite Ammunition. The ATF is taking the position that these are armor piercing. However, the NSSF aggressively questioned this stance and ATF concedes that they may need to look at the policy, develop variance policies, and draw up a FAQ on it.

David Codrea, the National Gun Rights Examiner, has run a series of columns this week pushing the ATF Firearms Technology Branch on the potential redefinition of .50 BMG AR uppers as firearms. From my correspondent:

FTB stated that no reclassification has been made and no .50 uppers have been classified at all. Rather, one manufacturer has been requested to submit one of their uppers for evaluation. The reason given was “police concern”, specifically foreign police agencies (or agency).

On a more technical issue related to the industry, brokers who never physically handle a firearm will, nonetheless, be required to have a FFL. This involves brokers who pay one party for a firearm, sell it to another, and never takes possession of it. This would also apply to firearms that never enter the United States if the broker was located in the U.S.

The ATF reiterated their position that all loaded large bore ammo (above .50 caliber unless exempted) is considered explosive for destructive devices. This means that if you have a .577 Nitro Express you are OK because it is considered a non-NFA Curio and Relic. However, if you have a Swiss Solothurn 20mm (see John Ross’ Unintended Consequences), ammo for it is considered explosive.

Regarding the multiple sales of certain semiautomatic rifles in the Southwest border states, ATF is taking the position that rifles equipped with a “bullet button” will not be exempted from the demand letters. The announced requirement applies to semiautomatic rifles in a caliber greater than .22 that have detachable magazines. While California law holds that rifles equipped with a bullet button are not considered to have detachable magazines, ATF is choosing to ignore that.

Finally, it was reported that there was no real movement on a few other issues: the shotgun importability study, a Firearm Technology Branch procedures manual, and the elimination of the requirement for a Chief Law Enforcement Officer signoff on NFA items.

My thanks to Andy from CVAA for the report on the conference.

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An East Coast Project Gunwalker?

July 7, 2011 by 7 Comments

So far all the attention on the ATF and gunwalking has been confined to the Southwest with the Phoenix Field Division at the epicenter of it all. However, David Codrea and Mike Vanderboegh are reporting tonight that the Tampa Field Division may have been involved in gunwalking to Honduras. This project may have been part of “Operation Castaway” which dealt with firearms trafficking in central Florida.

SAC (Virginia) O’Brien was previously the Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix Field Division, was later promoted to the Deputy Assistant Director of ATF, but then stepped down to the position in Tampa. Whether the allegations of our source refer to the on-going Operation Castaway remains at this hour unclear, but our source is certain that O’Brien has allowed the “walking” of straw-purchased firearms to Honduras using the same failed strategy as the Phoenix Field Division’s Operation Fast and Furious. That Operation Castaway involved arms smuggling to Honduras is also certain.

“This is confirmed as accurate,” the correspondence continued. “There are emails in existence where O’Brien has advised those involved that Tampa does not have to report their walked guns because Tampa FD is not a part of Southwest Border or Project Gunrunner.”

“From a first person source she is shitting herself trying to cover it up,” the report stated.

David and Mike have published identical reports on both the National Gun Rights Examiner page and Sipsey Street Irregulars.

If this source proves credible and this report is accurate, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will be lucky to survive an additional scandal involving gunwalking.

A news release on Operation Castaway from 2010 can be found here.

UPDATE: Why Honduras? Mike Vanderboegh has a post that explains the expansion of the Mexican drug cartels to this Central American country and the role of the military there in supplying arms.

As to more information on SAC Virginia O’Brien, she has been under the radar for the most part if a Google search is any indication. She had been the SAC of the Phoenix FD prior to William Newell and had been Assistant Deputy Director of ATF under Acting Director Michael Sullivan.

I did find mention of her in regards to former Deputy Director and now New York County Sheriff Edgar Domenach for giving him a mediocre performance evaluation. The only other real mentions of her come in the official press releases sent out by the Tampa Field Division. Unlike Andrew Traver, she doesn’t seem to be one that seeks out the press for personal publicity.

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Diversionary Tactics (Updated)

June 30, 2011 by 1 Comment

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), the Ranking Member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has come through on his promise to hold hearings on gun control and the ATF. If you will remember from the June 15th hearing into Operation Fast and Furious, he said he would be exercising his right for a Minority day of hearings. From Cummings’ opening statement:

Finally, no legitimate examination of this issue will be complete without analyzing our nation’s gun laws, which allow tens of thousands of assault weapons to flood into Mexico from the United States every year, including .50-caliber sniper rifles, multiple AK variants, and scores of others, some of them landing in neighborhoods like mine, the one I represent in Baltimore. When Mexican President Calderon addressed Congress in May, he pleaded for us to stop fielding a full- scale drug war with military-grade assault weapons.

In order to explore these issues further today, I’m exercising my right under the rules, Mr. Chairman, of the House for a minority day of hearings with several witnesses who will testify about these issues in great detail. I did not think it was necessary to call these witnesses for today’s hearing, but I will work with the chairman on scheduling these hearings in the near future.

Those hearings are scheduled for tomorrow at 10am EDT according to reports in the Houston Chronicle and the website Main Justice. From the Houston Chronicle:

★ Thursday: Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, will hold a forum on the flow of illegal guns on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border. The forum will be held at 10 a.m. EDT in the Russell Senate Office Building.

Rep. Cummings has not posted a release or notice about the hearings on the House Oversight Committee’s website. However, Main Justice had this to report on the hearing speakers:

Speakers at the minority hearing will include Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), a retired ATF agent, and several gun control advocates.

 It seems Cummings is keeping a tight lid on just who the “retired ATF agent, and several gun control advocates” are. If I had to make an educated guess, the retired ATF agent is probably “Waco Jim” Cavanaugh who just last week had an op-ed in TickleTheWire saying that the ATF director should be not be subject to Presidential appointment and subsequent Senate confirmation. Among the gun control advocates will probably be Paul Helmke in his last hurrah before he leaves as head of the Brady Campaign. Of course, this is just speculation.

This “hearing” will be just another in the diversionary tactics being employed to divert attention from Project Gunwalker and on the “need” for more gun control. The Washington Post’s ridiculous editorial from Sunday could also be put in this category. For a less diplomatic description of the hearings, I think Mike captures it with his headline here.

UPDATE: Well, I was right about Paul Helmke being there but wrong about “Waco Jim”. The complete list of people “testifying” is below:

Senator Charles Schumer (NY)
Michael R. Bouchard, former Assistant Director Field Operations, ATF
Thomas Mahoney, Assistant State’s Attorney Supervisor, Gang Prosecution Unit, Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office
Eric Olson, Senior Associate, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Kristen Rand, Legislative Director, Violence Policy Center
Paul Helmke, President, Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
Colby Goodman, Author of “U.S. Firearms Trafficking to Mexico: New Data and Insights Illuminate Key Trends and Challenges”

  Cummings says the aim of the forum – which I suppose means the testimony is not sworn – will be:

Law enforcement officials have testified that improvements to our nation’s gun laws are needed to address this increasingly devastating problem, including enhanced penalties for illegal straw purchases, the enactment of a firearms trafficking statute, and a reporting requirement for the purchase of multiple long guns, such as fifty caliber assault weapons and multiple AK variants.

Cummings will issue a report with recommendations to provide U.S. law enforcement with the tools needed to address gun trafficking.

Recent editorials in the New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times reiterate the need for basic, common-sense improvements to assist law enforcement officials counter violence by international drug cartels operating along the southwest border.

You have to wonder if the testimony would be the exactly the same if it was sworn and perjury charges could be brought.

Mike has more on the witnesses and their background especially former ATF official Michael Bouchard.

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Fired ATF Whistle-Blower Vince Cefalu On FoxBusiness

June 27, 2011 by 1 Comment

A day after Rep. Darrell Issa sent a letter to ATF Deputy Director William Hoover warning against the firing of any ATF whistle-blower, ATF Agent Vince Cefalu is fired. Cefalu is one of the founders of the CleanUpATF Forum which seeks to expose the incompetance of ATF management. Cefalu has spoken out forcefully about Project Gunwalker and the leaders that pushed it.

Cefalu blew the whistle on illegal wire-taps in the Road Dog Case and has been forced to twiddle his thumbs for a long while now. Prior to his whistle-blowing, he served undercover in operations targeting white supremecists and motorcycle gangs.
Another well-known whistle-blower, ATF Agent Jay Dobyns, had this to say about his firing: “Ultimately why is Vince being fired. Because he exposed corruption, blew the whistle and helped launch CleanUpATF. This is ATF’s payback.”

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Tone Deaf

June 23, 2011 by 2 Comments

The powers-that-be at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are tone deaf.

Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News posted this Tweet a couple of hours ago:

ATF Phoenix case agent Hope MacAllister –headed ATF’s controversial gunwalking op– today reportedly recvd national ATF “Lifesaving Award.”

Today, it was also confirmed by CBS News that “gunwalked” two AK-47 variants were found at the scene of a shoot-out in Mexico between authorities and the suspects in a high profile murder. The murder victim was the brother of a Mexican state attorney general.

CBS News has learned that U.S. officials called Mexico’s attorney general the day before last week’s gunwalker hearing to inform her of the link to the murder.

Mario Gonzalez Rodriguez, the brother of then-Chihuahua’s attorney general Patricia Gonzalez Rodriguez, was kidnapped in October.Hooded terrorists surrounding the handcuffed Rodriguez forced him to record a video statement that was widely-distributed in Mexico. His body was found in November.

I don’t know what Ms. MacAllister did to be awarded an ATF “Lifesaving Award” but it sure wasn’t protecting the innocent from the narco-terrorist thugs running much of Mexico. If you helped these thugs become armed, then you are complicit in the murders committed with them. To then get an award on top of this indicates a divorce from reality by the upper echelon in ATF’s Washington headquarters.

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If Melson Goes, What’s Next

June 20, 2011 by 4 Comments

I think that it is safe to assume that Kenneth Melson is on his way out as Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The testimoney on last Wednesday plus the documents released by House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) were the nails in the coffin of his short career with ATF.

Moreover, both the Wall Street Journal and FoxNews have reported that the Department of Justice is making moves to replace Melson as head of ATF. They are also reporting that Andrew Traver, SAC of the Chicago Field Division and nominee to be the Director of the agency, is expected to meet with Attorney General Eric Holder and Deputy Attorney General James Cole on Tuesday. Regarding Traver’s meeting with Holder and Cole, FoxNews says:

Officials at the Justice Department and the White House say it’s “speculative” to conclude that Traver’s arrival in Washington is a sign that the Obama administration is looking to oust Melson in the wake of the politically damaging operation.

But The Wall Street Journal, which was first to report Traver’s return, said sources indicated that the administration is weighing whether to name him as acting director or choose another interim chief while awaiting Senate action on his nomination.

This leads to three questions: When will Melson be ousted, will Melson roll on his Department of Justice superiors after he is thrown under the bus, and who will replace Melson as head of ATF?

I think the answer to the first question is soon. The Obama Administration has shown no hesitation to throw people under the bus when they have become inconvenient. According to his official biography, Melson has 28 years or so of Federal service starting in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. My guess is that he will announce that he has decided to retire.

As to the second question on whether Melson will roll on his DOJ superiors, I think it will depend upon whether any deals are made to assure that Melson does not face any criminal charges over Project Gunwalker and that he can keep his pension. By my estimate, he is looking at receiving close to $100,000 annually in pension income and that is probably a low calculation.

Given that Melson has spent the bulk of his career within the Department of Justice and has risen to the Senior Executive Service ranks, I think it is a reasonable assumption to make that he understands the ways of the DOJ bureaucracy and has low friends in high places with whom he has traded favors in the past. While his outward appearance is that of a bland functionary, he didn’t get to be the head of ATF and the Director of the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys before that on talent alone. He had to do some political and bureaucratic in-fighting to get to that level. The question remains whether it is in his personal interest to take the politicians down with him when he leaves ATF.

Finally, who will be tapped to replace Melson? The obvious answer would be Andrew Traver. He is the nominee to be the permanent Director and a good performance as Acting Director might go a long way to removing some of the objections to him becoming the Director.

That said, the rank and file of ATF agents have given up on Traver. From some of the comments on CleanUpATF.org:

Traver can not lead this agency back. He has already lost any faith or hope by sitting silent. How can a person who is an SES SAC and been publicly named as our nominee sit through the last six months of this agencies events without a uttering a peep? Nothing. No one has heard a word from him. And you call that leadership? More like Rohm (sic) Emanuel’s buddy from Chicago is all that is. – “Microscope”

Now that our Bureau is totally defunct and dysfunctional, Melson leaves. Why is anybody even mentioning Travers’ name? He was trained and mentored by Martin, Billy, John Torres and is as non-inspirational as any of our leadership currently pending Congressional review. I defy any ATF employee to articulate Travers’ views or position on the current state of the Bureau. Whats his opinion? He doesn’t have one. He has sat on the sidelines watching the ship go down as the NOMINEE. He didn’t want to leave his gravy train in Chicago unless they confirmed him. That’s cowardly and self serving.

Not one peep out of him because he’s a politician, not a COP. He was a marginal Agent, a poor Supervisor and a worthless Manager. He’s in it for personal gain. Otherwise, why did he not demand to take the reins? I’ll tell you why, he was told to sit silent and stay out of the fray. Andy, when in command, command. He has an agenda, and there is NO room for agenda in ATF. Only MISSION. Leave the politics to the politicians. Gene Hackman said in the movie the “Replacements”, “Players want the ball”. Andy doesn’t want the ball until Obama and Holder say he can have it. Does that sound like a warrior? OUTSIDE Law Enforcement leadership is our only hope NO MORE Lawyers, and NO more ATF followers like Hoover, Melson, Chait, McMahon and the others. Crazy wiretaps under Martin that got zero guns off the street, but did seized one black rhino horn. No more lies to Congress or like legal, ethical conduct by counsel? No more Thomasson spins. Seriously, Scott? “Mr. Melson continues to focus on firearms violence and stemming the flow of guns.”?? Do you read that shit before you put it out?

Word is that Traver has been feverishly throwing together a NEW reorganization all weekend, but you can’t just reorganize and make this go away. And why would you, without having boots on the ground before you start knee jerking?

It’s all just SMOKE and MIRRORS. – “Doc Holliday”

Traver might be an improvement but he seems secretive, withdrawn and unimaginative. This is not my role model of somebody to lead us out of a very dark place. – “Valkyrie”

If the Obama Administration is smart, they will appoint a respected law enforcement official – retired Chief of Police or retired head of another Federal law enforcement agency – from outside of ATF to take over the agency as a caretaker while they begin to clean house starting with the Chief Counsel’s Office. Unfortunately for ATF, I don’t think they are that smart.

UPDATE: The Washington Post is reporting on the meeting scheduled today between Andrew Traver and DOJ officials. An official speaking anonymously states that Traver may be offered the job on an acting basis and that Kenneth Melson will be ousted.

The interesting part of the story is that other law enforcement sources report that Melson believes he has done nothing wrong.

But law enforcement and other sources said Melson has told associates that he believes he has done nothing wrong. Officials said the White House is watching the situation warily and is concerned about the ATF but has not asked for Melson’s resignation.

The conflicting reports reflected the troubled state of a small agency that enforces federal gun laws but is itself increasingly in the crossfire.

If Melson believes in his own mind that he has done nothing wrong then all bets are off about him leaving ATF quietly. In the past, the Obama Administration has depended upon loyalists making the sacrifice willingly to protect the President and the administration from more controversy. This could get very interesting very quickly and Eric Holder could end up being the loyalist thrown under the bus.

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Operation Wide Receiver

June 16, 2011 by 1 Comment

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.

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Ignore The Man Behind The Curtain

June 14, 2011 by 2 Comments

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives along with their friends in the Senate hope that you will ignore the hearings being held before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee into Operation Fast and Furious (aka Project Gunwalker) and the ATF’s role in letting guns walk to Mexico.

Cam Edwards of NRA News disposed of the 70% figure last week yet there are some that will continue to repeat it because it buttresses their cause. As Mike at Sipsey Street Irregulars says, “Repeat The Lie” often and loudly so that people will ignore the real stats and the role of ATF in gunrunning to Mexico.

After the hearings tomorrow, that will become harder and harder even with misleading numbers, reports, and press releases from the Feinsteins and Schumers of this world.


Feinstein, Schumer, Whitehouse Report Calls for Stronger U.S. Response to Firearms Trafficking to Mexico

Urges Congress and the Administration to strengthen firearms laws to stem drug-related violence

70% of weapons recovered in Mexico originated in U.S. according to ATF

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Chairman of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, along with Senators Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) today released the findings of a Congressional investigation that concludes American military-style weapons are arming Mexico’s brutal drug trafficking organizations at an alarming rate and policymakers are not adequately responding.

“Congress has been virtually moribund while powerful Mexican drug trafficking organizations continue to gain unfettered access to military-style firearms coming from the United States,” said Senator Feinstein. “New ATF data provided last week reveals that more than 70 percent of firearms recovered at crime scenes and traced by Mexican officials actually originated in the United States.”

According to the report, Halting U.S. Firearms Trafficking to Mexico, the overwhelming majority of firearms recovered at crime scenes and traced by Mexican officials originate in the United States. In a recent letter to Feinstein, ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson indicated that in 2009 and 2010 20,504 of the 29,284 firearms (70 percent) recovered in Mexico and submitted for tracing were United States-sourced.

“This report confirms what many of us already know to be true: although the Senate’s recently passed border measure will help make our Southern border safer, it is still too easy for Mexican drug lords to get their hands on deadly military-grade weapons within our borders,” said Senator Schumer. “We need to redouble our efforts to keep violent firearms out of the hands of these traffickers.”

“This report outlines common sense measures that will help protect our border and our communities by keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of Mexican gangs and drug cartels,” said Senator Whitehouse.

Conclusions of the report:

It will be very difficult to successfully reduce drug-related violence in Mexico without starving the country’s drug trafficking organizations of their military-style weapons.

To do this, the United States must strengthen current firearms laws and regulations. This can be done through a number of key actions by the Obama Administration and Congress, including:

Enactment of legislation to close the gun show loophole;
Better enforcement of the existing ban on imports of military-style weapons;
Reinstatement of the expired Assault Weapons Ban;
Reporting by Federal Firearms Licensees on all multiple firearms sales; and
Senate ratification of the Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking of Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Other Related Materials (CIFTA).

The Halting U.S. Firearms Trafficking to Mexico report can be found here. Information from the report was gathered through meetings in Mexico and in U.S. border cities, briefings, interviews, and a review of documents from both government and non-government subject matter experts.

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FoxNews On Project Gunwalker Hearings

June 10, 2011 by

Watch the latest video at <a href=”http://video.foxnews.com”>video.foxnews.com</a>

The accompanying story reports that DOJ officials are in “panic mode” which they well should be. According to the story, the following will come out in the second hearing scheduled for Wednesday, June 15th:

– The ATF allowed and encouraged five Arizona gun store owners to sell some 1,800 weapons to buyers known to them as gun smugglers.

– It installed cameras inside the gun stores to record purchases made by those smugglers.

– It hid GPS trackers inside gun stocks and watched the weapons go south on computer screens.

– It obtained surveillance video from parking lots and helicopters showing straw buyers transferring their guns from one car to another.

– It learned guns sold in Phoenix were recovered only when Mexico police requested “trace data,” which is obtained from their serial number.

What has really caught my eye about this story is the third item on GPS trackers inside the gun stocks. Back in April, I had a couple of posts discussing GPS trackers after Michael Bane had speculated about it on his weekly podcast. I didn’t go further with this because I couldn’t find evidence of purchases by ATF of RFI tags or GPS trackers within a government contracting/purchases database. I should have looked harder because it appears our speculations were correct.