Congressional gun trafficking report ignores ATF "Project Gunrunner" misconduct

As the ATF “Project Gunrunner” scandal continues to unfold Congressman Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD) today amazingly used the botched ATF operation as a reason to call for additional gun control measures.

"Project Gunrunner,” also known as "Operation Gunrunner" or "Operation Fast and Furious,” was an ATF operation that deliberately allowed thousands of firearms to be purchased by straw purchasers and smuggled into Mexico, all under the watchful eye of the ATF.

The operation is now the subject of special investigation by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, chaired by Rep. Darell E. Issa. The committee’s investigation reveals an ATF operation that seems specifically designed to arm Mexican drug cartels while laying the blame for Mexican violence on U.S. gun dealers.

The investigation shows that the ATF not only allowed and monitored the firearms purchases, but also specifically instructed the Federally licensed gun dealers selling the firearms to ignore the illegality of the straw purchases and continue to sell the guns. ATF agents have also testified that senior ATF management overruled concerns from line agents that the guns would be used in crimes in Mexico and forbid agents from seizing the guns before they crossed the border.

The results were predictable: Thousands of firearms were smuggled into Mexico where they could no longer be tracked by the ATF. These guns wound up in the hands of that country’s violent drug cartels and have since turned up in crime scenes on both sides of the border. There is no way the results could have been any different as the ATF deliberately did not inform the Mexican government or any Mexican law enforcement agency either about the “Operation Gunrunner” program in general or about any of the smuggled guns in particular.

So far, hundreds of Mexican citizens and at least one U.S. Federal agent have paid the price. U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in a shootout near the Arizona border on December 14, 2010. Two of the rifles found on the scene were purchased by an alleged gunrunner the ATF had under surveillance and were allowed into Mexico as part of the “Operation Gunrunner” operation.

Today House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Elijah E. Cummings held a forum on gun trafficking where he tried to use the results of the committee’s investigation into “Project Gunrunner” as evidence that additional gun control measures were needed.

Rep. Cummings released a written report to accompany his gun trafficking forum. The report, titled “Outgunned Law Enforcement Agents Warn Congress They Lack Adequate Tools to Counter Illegal Firearms Trafficking,” includes a laundry list of gun control measures Rep. Cummings says are needed. These include:

• Stronger Penalties for Illegal Straw Purchases
• Enactment of Illegal Firearms Trafficking Statute
• Requiring Reports of Multiple Long Gun Purchases

The irony is, of course, that while any new control laws would expand the ATF’s powers, the ATF itself is an accomplice in the smuggling of thousands of firearms into Mexico. Rep. Cumming’s report conveniently ignores that fact.

In the end Rep. Cummings report is just another piece of anti-gun propaganda that attempts to blame Mexican violence on lawful U.S. citizens while ignoring the very real way that the ATF itself contributed to that violence with it’s bizarre and possibly illegal “Project Gunrunner.”

Note to readers: For more information on "Operation Gunrunner" read Gun Right Examiner David Codrea's "A journalist's guide to Operation Gunwalker."

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