I kinda thought that needed saying. In fact, let me say it again: under the Obama Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives created a secret program called “Fast and Furious.” This black bag job actively encouraged the transfer of some 2000 firearms—the majority of which were assault rifles—from American gun stores to known members of a Mexican drug cartel. These ATF-enabled illegal buyers then distributed those weapons to vicious criminals, who used those weapons to intimidate, torture, wound, rape, murder and kill hundreds of innocent people. Drug thugs used at least one of these assault rifles to murder U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. And U.S. Customs Agent Jaime Zapata. And now we learn that an ATF agent personally purchased and supplied criminals with a gun used in a recent murder. Fox News provides the outrageous details of a transaction that reveals the Obama Administration’s unconscionable hypocrisy . . .
A FN Five-Seven semi-automatic pistol, a high powered handgun originally restricted to military and law enforcement customers was recovered by Mexican police at the scene of a Nov. 23 shootout between the Sinaloa Cartel and the Mexican military.
[ED: The U.S. government never restricted sales of the FN FiveSeven, just the type of ammunition available. FiveSeven video above. Gun reviewed here.]
Records show the gun was purchased in January 2010 by George Gillett, the former No. 2 in the ATF office in Phoenix. Gillett now works at ATF headquarters in Washington as a liaison to the federal Bureau of Prisons.
Gillett purchased the weapon at Legendary Arms, a Phoenix gun store. On the federal form 4473 used to buy the gun, Gillett used the ATF office address, 201 East Washington, and said “Apt 940.” On subsequent purchase, Gillett used a commercial address, that of a strip mall.
Both actions are illegal, since ATF regulations require buyers use their residential address.
“Lying on form 4473 is a felony and can be punished by up to five years in prison in addition to fines,” Sen. Charles Grassley said in a letter Wednesday to Michael Horowitz in the Office of Inspector General. “I request that you initiate an investigation into these matters and that you specifically examine whether Mr. Gillett was the purchaser as indicated by these documents, why the forms list multiple, inaccurate residential addresses while purchasing the weapons, and how the weapon purchased on January 7, 2010 ended up in Mexico.”
Gillett’s gun was found in Sinaloa after a gun battle that killed Mexican beauty queen Maria Susana Gamez. Gamez was reportedly fighting alongside the cartel. Police found a weapon similar to an AK-47 and some 50 bullets next to her body. Another weapon found at the crime scene was traced to a Uriel Patino, who illegally bought more than 600 guns and is a main suspect in the controversial Operation Fast and Furious run out of the Phoenix office of the ATF.
And these are just the guns we know about; the Mexican government has imposed a blackout on the records of the make, model and serial numbers of weapons—most of which are assault rifles—found at crime scenes; information they used to provide before the Obama administration launched Operation Fast and Furious.
And these are just the assault rifles enabled by the ATF. Lest we forget, the U.S. government has supplied hundreds of thousands of fully automatic assault rifles to the Mexican military and police, knowing full well that these guns seep to killers who make Adam Lanza seem like a peace worker. Gunmen who have committed mass murder.
I repeat: some 150,000 Mexican soldiers have defected to the cartels. That’s at least 100,000 American-made fully automatic assault rifles transferred to narco-terrorists. How about the Obama administration do something to get the blood off their hands before they try to take away the firearms in law-abiding citizens’ hands?