“On Jan. 19, federal Judge Amy Berman—an Obama appointee—ordered the administration to produce the [ATF’s Fast & Furious gun running] documents demanded,” the NRA’s americas1stfreedom.org reminds us. “The deadline Berman set for the administration to comply was this past Tuesday, Feb. 2.” And . . . ? Crickets chirping. I wouldn’t hold my breath for news of the big reveal. As we reported, Judge Berman . . .
left open the possibility in her ruling Tuesday that some of the disputed records could still be held back from Congress because they contain sensitive information on law enforcement techniques, implicate foreign policy concerns or discuss matters covered by attorney-client privilege. [via politco.com]
Call it “the ATF accountability loophole.” Anyway, americas1stfreedom.org provides a helpful guide to crimes where [we know] criminals used some of the 2000 Fast and Furious guns allowed to “walk” by ATF agents over a 10-month period in 2009.
- In the 2009 seizure by police in Mexicali, Mexico, of 42 firearms from the Sinaloa drug cartel—every one of which could be traced back to Fast and Furious.
- At a 2010 massacre in Juarez, Mexico, where cartel members murdered 16 people, mostly teenagers, at a birthday party.
- In a stolen vehicle used to ram two Arizona Department of Public Safety cruisers in Maricopa, Ariz., in 2010, whose driver thereupon disappeared into the desert.
- In the private armory of a Sinaloa cartel boss discovered in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, where at least 40 of the weapons in the cache were linked to Fast and Furious.
- In a shootout with cartel members who had interrogated, murdered and dumped the body of the brother of the Chihuahua, Mexico, state attorney general.
- At a November 2012 shootout between Mexican soldiers and drug cartel members who used a 20-year-old Mexican beauty queen, María Susana Flores Gámez, as a “human shield” before she was killed.
- At the scene of a 2013 gang assault on a Phoenix apartment building that left two people wounded. The man who had bought the AK rifle found at that crime scene also bought at least 39 other firearms on the same day.
- At the crime scenes of “hundreds of murders” in Mexico; and
- In connection with Nadir Soofi, who with Elton Simpson launched a terrorist attack, opening fire outside a “draw Muhammad” cartoon contest in Garland, Texas, last May. Five years earlier, Soofi had obtained a 9 mm pistol linked to Fast and Furious.
[Lest we forget, ATF-enabled drug thugs shot and killed U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, whose sacrifice will never be forgotten by those of us determined to unearth the truth about Fast & Furious.]
While the NRA continues to see F&F as a plot to subvert Americans’ natural, civil and Constitutional right to keep and bear arms — which may have played a role in the black bag job’s genesis — I’ll leave you with this from Carlos Canino [above], ATF’s deputy attaché in Mexico, back when F&F was first uncovered.
“Brian Terry is not the last guy, okay, guys? Let’s put it out there right now. Nobody wants to talk about that. Brian Terry is not the last guy unfortunately … Unfortunately, there are hundreds of Brian Terrys probably in Mexico … the ATF armed the [Sinaloa] cartel. It is disgusting.”