Yesterday, a federal judge struck down President Obama’s claim of Executive Privilege over documents related to operation Fast and Furious – the ATF program that allowed Mexican drug thugs to purchase firearms at U.S. gun stores. Today we learn that “A .50-caliber rifle found at Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman’s hideout in Mexico was funneled through the gun-smuggling investigation known as Fast and Furious, sources confirmed Tuesday to Fox News.” The information is potentially explosive – although the mainstream media doesn’t get it. Here’s why . . .
After Fast and Furious was exposed, the ATF claimed they created the secret, extra-legal program to catch Mexican gun smugglers. The ATF told Congress that they instructed gun stores to allow known criminals — some 2000 guns over a ten-month period — to purchase firearms in order to catch the “big fish.”It was a failed “sting.” The claim had no credibility whatsoever.
ATF agents were directly and specifically ordered NOT to follow the guns sold to cartel members in U.S. gun stores, or make ANY arrests when the original purchasers passed the weapons to others within the cartel. In fact, the ATF didn’t make a single arrest related to the guns that they let “walk” into Mexico.
The results were as you might expect: cartel members used the guns to kill people. When a Sinaloa “rip crew” shot and killed U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry with ATF-enabled firearms, Fast and Furious became a national scandal. Who knew about F&F and when? The Obama administration stonewalled. Hence the claim of Executive Privilege on F&F paperwork and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holders’ Contempt of Congress citation (for withholding documents).
So . . . what was the point of Fast and Furious? This is the central mystery.
Two competitive but not mutually exclusive theories have emerged. First, F&F was designed to create support for a renewed assault weapon ban in the U.S. See? An “iron river” of “assault rifles” is fueling Mexican cartels! Ban them! Second, the ATF was arming the Sinaloa cartel, either as a counterweight to Los Zetas or some other sort of quid pro quo. The .50-cal confiscation adds weight to the second theory.
A astounding 34 of the 2000+ guns the ATF let walk south were .50-caliber rifles (most remain missing in action). That’s a lot of serious hardware. Aimed at our “friends” in the Mexican military, apparently.
Federal law enforcement sources told Fox News that ‘El Chapo’ would put his guardsmen on hilltops to be on guard for Mexican police helicopters that would fly through valleys conducting raids. The sole purpose of the guardsmen would be to shoot down those helicopters, sources said.
Again, ATF agents didn’t intercept or follow the guns when they were purchased or when they left the United States. BIG GUNS. Did the ATF know that the boss himself was getting a fiddy? Did El Chapo, in fact, “special order” the gun with the ATF’s knowledge dare-I-say blessing? How exactly did El Chapo get an F&F gun?
When someone inside the U.S. commits a high-profile crime (e.g., the San Bernardino terrorist attack), the media wants to know: how did they get the gun? In the case of El Chapo’s .50-cal, crickets chirping. And yet this one rifle could be a thread that investigators could pull to reveal the truth about Operation Fast and Furious. The problem is, no one’s pulling . . .
Robert, everything about the current administration is about expanding government reach. Everything.
Fast and Furious was about creating conditions for further gun regulations and the stripping of rights enjoyed by Americans.
The current administration is at war with the American people. Unfortunately, the majority of Americans do not realize it yet.
Anything else that came from that program was merely gravy.
It’s treason, plain and simple. They are at war with us, but we don’t even realize it.
There is no mystery…it was a cheap, traitorous political stunt to give Obama and Holder a talking point against citizens guns rights…although it’s a stunt that has a huge body count…not that they care.
Nope. It was practice run for shipping guns to Benghazi. Same results…Dead Americans.
We regulars at TTAG all know the real goal of Fast & Furious. What I can’t figure out is how they planned on accomplishing their goal without tracking the guns. Somebody in a white building with no knowledge of guns, saying “Hey let’s try this”?
Track the guns??? When he has his hands in the pockets of his mom jeans he/they still can’t find his/their ……..
Phase one: Collect underpants. Phase two:??? Phase three: Profit!
If this is the reference I think it is, well played. My three sibs and I played that game just last night…with our octogenarian parents! Boisterous laughter ensued!!
It’s not a game reference. You’re thinking Cards Against Humanity? It was from South Park. The Underpants Gnomes.
So F&F provided the stats that are used/cited in loophole studies?
They also PRODUCED those stats!
Might be time to rethink that whole prohibition on public hanging.
Democrats vs republicans is “Criminal vs Stupid”
Democrats will tolerate any amount of criminality, Republicans will tolerate any amount of stupidity.
As, this is a function of Democrat criminality, nothing whatsoever is going to happen.
Well, exec privelege applies to deliberations, not policy, or impl. And it accrues to the presidency, reaching out from the person of the president, while in office. It doesn’t reach far.
If FnF is covered, the pres was directly involved in deciding n directing the prgm. If he’s not involved, no exec priv.
The “priv” claim is convenient. Cover for false flag op justifying their gun goals. Arming the cartels has value justifying more DEA, ATF, HS, INS n etc. Makes Mex govt more dependent, too. Expanding reach of E P is another payoff – putting those pesky congresscritters in their place, is just a bonus. Every ruling in their favor extends capture of the judiciary, too.
They are talented lawyers n political operatives. Nothing about honesty, ethics, respect for others, responsibility, or fair dealing to expect from that.
This
Ah yes… .50 caliber rifles… I’m sure that those are REALLY easy to smuggle without federal assistance.
Nobody checks anything going into Mexico. You could just take it apart and mail it.
Include 50 lbs of pot and coke in the pkg, no problem.
Border agent: “is that a .50 cal in your pants or are you just happy to see me?”
I’ve never been to Mexico but I’ll assume that only Mexican Guards do the checking when headed south. If so, with the right guards on duty, a hundred dollar bill will probably get you a wave around security. Or, why wouldn’t the cartels have guards on their payroll?
I’m sure 60 minutes is all over it. After all they have to know all the details, if they ever hope to suppress them.
?
Fox news is such drama queens they call it a “helicopter killer”….a frickin 22lr placed just right can take down a chopper…they must be getting drama lessons from MSNBC
All you have to do is shoot the pilot if you want to take down a helicopter. Any firearm is capable of doing that depending on luck.
A well misplaced placed wingnut can take down a helicopter. The standards aren’t very high here.
I’ve never once heard of a .22 LR taking down a helicopter. Sure, a helo could be taken down with a .308, or even a bunch of 5.56 rounds. The thing is the .50 is *way better* at taking down aircraft than smaller calibers.
Lol. Bond used a PPK to shoot down the chopper in Spectre…from a speeding boat.
Ha ha…….and Chuck Norris can point his finger at one and say BANG!
Killing geese with a .410 is very doable, but is a heck of a lot easier with a 12 gauge, 3 1/2’s, and Heavy Shot.
Wait, so a rifle that the ATF purposely funneled to the Mexican cartels ended up in the hands of the Sinaloa cartel that they have been supporting? This is breaking news! /s
Well yeah, the government said it would give guns to the cartels and they did it. The government actually worked!!!!
“An “iron river” of “assault rifles” is fueling Mexican cartels! Ban them!”
That sounds stupid, and has been called that by the admin. However, since Eric Holder was claiming this was happening and calling for that ban, before FnF was discovered, and since they are STILL pushing that agenda (notably by the restrictions on long gun sales near the border), it is clear, at least to a simpleton such as myself, that was the impetus of the “justice” department, which directly ordered the actions of ATF, who are simply innocent, ignorant whores with no purpose and no job and no morals, who should be panhandling on the street.
I wonder if El Chapo let Jeff Spicoli hold his fiddy during their recent interview.
Any one else notice that that picture is a barrett ampr and not a 50?
I thought it was an 82A1, but you may be right. I can neither confirm nor deny since the Barrett website is running ridiculously slow.
The mag the brake and the fore end shape give it away. It’s barretts competition for the xm25 system
You’re right. It is a 25mm AMPR. For those of you who need to look it up like I did here is a start.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrett_XM109
That doesn’t sound like something that was sold over the counter to a straw buyer via Fast and Furious.
Maybe TTAG has the wrong image.
At least the eCONomy is good again. If youre a gun dealer, drug dealer, or govt flunky.
So I need to be a gun dealer selling to both sides, and taking drugs in payment that I later resell? Sounds like a plan!
To quote SNL’s church lady: “Weelll, isnt that special!”
Why’d you post a pic of a 25mm?
Correct, no one is pulling. Look at how Hillary is protected. I could see Trump using to tear apart the progressive network. Ideas like F&F should never actually be carried out. They are crazy bullpen thoughts best used to propel more refined strategies. That said the release of documents is a good thing.
Well…..
Color me surprised !
So how do they know that 34 of the guns were 50cal.? I thought the details of F&F was not released. Is there a detailed list of the firearms that were used in the operation that we can see?
Does anyone remember the 5-10 times a day some news report talked about rogue dealers and how 99% of the guns recovered in Mexico came from the USA? You couldn’t go an hour without hearing it. As soon as F&F broke boom, not a peep about guns in Mexico. Then we heard about F&F maybe for a week.
The entire illegal scam was nothing except pushing the antigun agenda. They were slightly successful in that multiple long gun sales purchased in some states are now recorded just like multiple handgun sales everywhere. I think that order needs to be reversed immediately.
Couldn’t it theoretically be spun that since the goal of the operation was to catch the big fish, that the operation was successful in that a fast and furious gun led to the capture of el chapo?