It was inevitable.
Some of the estimated 2,000 firearms that federal law enforcement allowed to slip into the hands of Mexico’s violent drug cartels are showing up in gun crimes in U.S. cities.
KNXV-TV in Phoenix, AZ, conducted an investigation regarding weapons the federal government “walked” to drug cartels, and can confirm that those weapons are turning up at crime scenes inside the United States — some scenes just blocks from each other.
They have documentation proving that “Gunwalker” firearms are turning up in Arizona gun crimes, and that some of the firearms in question may not have ever left the United States at all.
KNXV reporters cross-referenced serial numbers of weapons recovered from area crimes with those of firearms that the multi-agency federal task force let arms smugglers purchase in area gun shops. More recently, they uncovered that an additional 43 Gunwalker firearms were recovered in a single bust, out of 59 total firearms recovered.
The news is far from surprising. It was, after all, the murder of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry within the U.S. — in the Arizona desert — that triggered whistleblowers within the operation to come forward. Two “Gunwalker” guns were recovered at the scene of Terry’s murder. ICE Agent Jaime Zapata was also killed with Gunwalker guns, and a fellow ICE agent was seriously wounded.
These are just two confirmed American deaths. We don’t know how many Americans have been murdered by guns provided by the Obama administration to narco-terrorists, and they certainly aren’t going to volunteer that information.
KNXV should not be the only investigation by news agencies in border states. Both local and national news organizations should be demanding the ATF publish the list of “Gunwalker” firearms by serial number, so that the public may maintain a running tally of how many of these firearms have been recovered and whether the recovered guns were linked to any specific crimes.
Sadly, investigative reporters and bloggers aren’t the only people interested in using Gunwalker data. Neil Munro of the Daily Caller reveals that criminal defense attorneys are seeking discovery to determine if they can use Gunwalker to the advantage of their clients:
Some of the estimated 2,000 firearms that federal law enforcement allowed to slip into the hands of Mexico’s violent drug cartels are showing up in gun crimes in U.S. cities.
KNXV-TV in Phoenix, AZ, conducted an investigation regarding weapons the federal government “walked” to drug cartels, and can confirm that those weapons are turning up at crime scenes inside the United States — some scenes just blocks from each other.
They have documentation proving that “Gunwalker” firearms are turning up in Arizona gun crimes, and that some of the firearms in question may not have ever left the United States at all.
KNXV reporters cross-referenced serial numbers of weapons recovered from area crimes with those of firearms that the multi-agency federal task force let arms smugglers purchase in area gun shops. More recently, they uncovered that an additional 43 Gunwalker firearms were recovered in a single bust, out of 59 total firearms recovered.
The news is far from surprising. It was, after all, the murder of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry within the U.S. — in the Arizona desert — that triggered whistleblowers within the operation to come forward. Two “Gunwalker” guns were recovered at the scene of Terry’s murder. ICE Agent Jaime Zapata was also killed with Gunwalker guns, and a fellow ICE agent was seriously wounded.
These are just two confirmed American deaths. We don’t know how many Americans have been murdered by guns provided by the Obama administration to narco-terrorists, and they certainly aren’t going to volunteer that information.
KNXV should not be the only investigation by news agencies in border states. Both local and national news organizations should be demanding the ATF publish the list of “Gunwalker” firearms by serial number, so that the public may maintain a running tally of how many of these firearms have been recovered and whether the recovered guns were linked to any specific crimes.
Sadly, investigative reporters and bloggers aren’t the only people interested in using Gunwalker data. Neil Munro of the Daily Caller reveals that criminal defense attorneys are seeking discovery to determine if they can use Gunwalker to the advantage of their clients:
“As the lawyer for Jose Sauceda–Cuevas, I’ve got to look at every possibility,” including agency misconduct, that would help him in the courtroom, said David Dudley, a Harvard-trained criminal defense lawyer based in Los Angeles.
The U.S. Attorney for the Arizona district is charging Dudley’s client with 25 counts related to gun trafficking. The charges include 10 false statements made during gun purchases, five identity theft charges, five counts for felony possession of a gun, and “five counts of Illegal Alien in Possession of a Firearm,” according to a May 19 press statement.
“The defendant orchestrated straw purchases of over 110 assault rifles and pistols in a multi–state enterprise to provide weapons for the drug war” in Mexico, the statement said.It is impossible to predict how much of an impact the Gunwalker fiasco will have on this particular case or four other related cases — in which there are 17 defendants — but the much larger concerns are that the government has not only armed narco-terrorists with thousands of weapons, but that it may have made the prosecution of gun smugglers and straw purchasers much more difficult.
Further, in one of the most absurd revelations of Gunwalker’s malfeasance (other than the fact the ATF was giving guns to FBI and DEA informants), we now know that the same federal agencies told gun dealers to sell guns to cartel members (even after gun stores expressed concerns about the sales) then built cases against the gun companies for selling the guns. The Daily Caller article notes that the four-store hunting supply chain Carter’s Country was one of those targets.
Now, reports claim ATF attache Bill “Hell, no” Newell cannot visit Mexico, out of fears he will be arrested and charged with felonies for his role in Gunwalker.
An independent prosecutor must be appointed to determine who in the Obama administration came up with this plot, who authorized it and went along with it even though it was illegal, and who participated in the cover-up after it was discovered.
The adminstration had hoped to scapegoat ATF Acting Director Ken Melson, but he came clean with congressional investigators on the Fourth of July. Now a well-placed Pajamas Media source indicates that senior Justice Department officials are feverishly working to scapegoat a different DOJ official in another attempt to deflect blame.
This is worse than Iran-Contra. This is worse than Nixon.
And we’re only scratching the surface.
PJ Media
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