Last week, it was discovered that two assault rifles sold under the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) program known as “Operation Gunrunner” were used in the 2010 abduction and murder of a Mexican lawyer.
The victim, Mario Gonzalez Rodriguez, a high-profile attorney, and brother of former attorney general of Chihuahua, Patricia Gonzalez Rodriguez, was kidnapped in October by gunmen working for the Sinaloa Cartel. Over the course of two weeks, he was repeatedly tortured before being killed by his captors.
The cartel posted several videos online which show Rodriguez bound and repeatedly being electrocuted by hooded men.
His body was unearthed in November, just outside the kidnappers’ compound.
Fox News is reporting that U.S. law enforcement officials have confirmed that two AK-47s purchased in Arizona by a straw buyer, under Operation Gunrunner and allowed to be taken across the border were recovered during the investigation of Rodriguez’ murder.
Fox News is also reporting that Mexican officials were not informed that the weapons were part of the now infamous ATF program until last week.
On Wednesday, ATF Special Agent John Dodson testified before Congress that Operation Gunrunner made possible the sale of roughly 2,500 firearms. Only 700 of those have been recovered by at crime scenes throughout Mexico and the U.S.
It is impossible to determine the number of murders which have, and will yet occur at the hands of cartel gunmen who have basically been armed by the U.S. government.
However, it is only a matter of time until the families of the victims, Mexican police departments and the Mexican federal government begin filing lawsuits, with the U.S. taxpayers as the ultimate target.
Perhaps, the $1.16 billion budget the ATF has requested from the taxpayers for Fiscal Year 2011, should simply be set aside in a special escrow account to deal with the inevitable damage claims which will arise as a result of Operation Gunrunner.
To date, the Obama administration has denied any knowledge of the disastrous program.
Of course, as part of Obama’s stimulus package, over $10 million was sent to the ATF to set-up Operation Gunrunner teams in the border states of California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. As of February 2011, there were 190 agents, 145 weapons industry investigators, and 25 support personnel working in the American Southwest as part of Operation Gunrunner.
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