OFF THE WIRE
BY: Page Gerrick
statepress.com
Summary: We must demand answers and consequences for those responsible in Operation Fast and Furious.
One year ago, the phrase “Fast and Furious” would conjure images of a terrible movie franchise with fast cars, hot chicks, guys with big muscles and dreadful plot lines. Now, that phrase has morphed into an entirely different image.
It’s an image of the “straw purchases” of assault-style weapons from firearms dealers that are sometimes resold to criminal elements in Mexico. Straw purchasers are people who buy guns to resell to other parties, often members of cartels and gangs.
And before you lay blame on the dealers, you need to understand that they were given lists of ‘straw purchasers’ by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a branch of the Justice Department, and told to allow the sale of the firearms to ‘straw purchasers’ to go through.
The Justice Department has been accused of not only knowing the operation was active, but endorsing and arranging the operation through the ATF.
Under normal procedures, the “straw purchaser” would be arrested and the firearm confiscated before being sold to the intended target.
Under Fast & Furious, they bypassed this procedure, arrested the purchaser after the sale, and then attempted to “flip” them to give up the names of cartel members. The intent was to create a nexus between cartels and straw purchasers.
According to an article in The Huffington Post, this operation turned over approximately 2,000 firearms to violent cartels headquartered in Mexico, and as many as 1,400 of these are unaccounted for.
Now, it’s been discovered that the firearms have been used in the deaths of two Americans, and almost 200 firearms have been recovered from crime scenes in Mexico, according to The Los Angeles Times. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, who was murdered in Southern Arizona, and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Agent Jaime Zapata, who was murdered in Mexico, were the two Americans killed.
Where is Attorney General Eric Holder? Where is President Barack Obama? Why aren’t there more people marching around the White House and calling their legislators demanding answers?
And where is the media? Major newspapers and media outlets are attempting to minimize the exposure and discussion, and the Obama administration is certainly using this to their advantage.
While Holder is furiously working on reassigning agents to various posts and hanging Dennis Burke, the U.S. attorney in Arizona, out to dry, the administration is still avoiding the topic and diverting attention to other, albeit important, issues without addressing this deadly one.
I find it curious that instead of focusing on the idiocy of the government enabling criminals to get their hands on guns, they are focusing on firearms in this country.
This administration has broken federal law in allowing the sale (against many dealers’ wishes) and transport of weapons across the border. It has now been revealed that White House staff members and advisors have received numerous briefings and emails on the status and function of the operation.
If this administration can’t see how their actions have not only escalated the violence of cartels on both sides of the border, increased the distrust felt by Mexican officials, and also caused the deaths of countless American and Mexican citizens, then I think it’s time for voters to seriously think about how incompetent the current administration really is.
The sins of the Obama administration should not be thrust upon unsuspecting law enforcement officers, Mexican citizens and law-abiding firearm dealers and owners in this country.
It’s time for the American people to stand up and demand answers, and perhaps the rolling of a few highly-ranked heads.
Reach the columnist at Page at Page.Gerrick@asu.edu
