Alan Gottlieb of the Citizens’ Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms thinks the time is right for a Special Prosecutor in the Project Gunwalker scandal. He may well be right. The CCRKBA’s release is below.<\/p>\n
BELLEVUE, WA \u2013 Following more than four hours of testimony before a House committee today by a U.S. Senator, government whistleblowers and relatives of a slain Border Patrol agent, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is calling for the immediate suspension, without pay, of all supervisors involved in a controversial gunrunning sting operation, including the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and his deputies, and the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate and determine who initiated this project and who approved it.<\/p>\n
Operation Fast and Furious was the ATF\u2019s botched gun trafficking investigation in Arizona that allowed more than 2,000 guns to be moved into a criminal pipeline leading straight to Mexico. Today\u2019s stunning revelations under oath by ATF agents before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform suggest there were willful violations of ATF policy and procedures that were allegedly ordered by supervisors in Phoenix with the knowledge of the agency hierarchy in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s hearing revealed one outrage after another,\u201d said CCRKBA Chairman Alan M. Gottlieb. \u201cEverybody who was involved in this debacle must be held accountable. That can only happen if there is an independent prosecutor, someone who cannot be influenced by the Justice Department.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is clear that members of Congress have been stonewalled,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe share Congressman Darrell Issa\u2019s outrage at the conduct of the Justice Department, and particularly the ATF. They\u2019re supposed to be preventing criminals from getting firearms, not facilitating it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think an independent prosecutor is important for another reason,\u201d Gottlieb added. \u201cAttempts by some members of the House Oversight committee to politicize this investigation are disappointing. Finding the truth about how this operation went wrong is not a launch pad for some new gun control effort. Don’t blame our gun laws and gun rights for the criminal acts of people who should have been arrested before anybody got killed.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the present,\u201d he concluded, \u201cthe ATF should be immediately put under the command of people who clearly understand that it is their job to prevent illegal gun trafficking, instead of allowing it to happen. There has been a serious lack of leadership and accountability, and that needs to be fixed today.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n