Timeline for one of the underreported scandals of modern times

Feb. 25, 2009: Atty Gen. Eric Holder tells Congress that the new administration wants to reinstate the ban on assault weapons and says, “I think it will have a positive impact in Mexico at a minimum.”

March 26, 2009: Sect of State Hillary Clinton, speaking in Mexico, claims “90 percent” of guns used by drug cartels in Mexico come from the U.S.

April 16, 2009: At a press conference with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, President Obama also uses the 90 percent number. Pressed to provide any evidence of the 90 percent number, the Obama administration cannot provide any, and the nonpartisan group Fact Check.org finds the number incorrect.

September and October 2009: The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) begins “Operation Fast & Furious” in Arizona. Licensed firearms dealers in the U.S. are persuaded by BATFE to sell guns to fake purchasers representing drug and gun dealers. The purpose is to monitor the gun sales and find out what happens to the guns. But BATFE agents are always forbidden to interdict the guns and are ordered to stop surveillance. BATFE loses track of almost all of the guns, and thousands are allowed to “walk” into Mexico and elsewhere. Eventually, more than 2,000 guns end up in the hands of violent criminals. BATFE is overseen by Eric Holder.

Late 2009 and early 2010: Several BATFE officials begin to question when the Fast and Furious plan will end and what the purpose is. They do not receive good answers. Supposedly, the purpose was to trace the guns to drug kingpins, but the identity of these drug kingpins is well known already, and their involvement in crime is well-known already, so many mid-level officials find the strategy a waste of time, at best. Their jobs are threatened by higher-level BATFE officials if they question the strategy.

October 2010: The brother of the attorney general of Mexico is kidnapped and killed. F&F guns were used.

Dec. 14, 2010: Agent Brian Terry, a border patrol agent, is killed by Mexican criminals. The next day, F&F rifles are discovered at the scene of the crime. Close aides to Eric Holder are informed that F&F rifles were there.

December 2010 and early 2011: More than a dozen Justice Department whistle-blowers begin speaking with congressional investigators about the F&F case.

Feb. 15, 2011: ICE agent Jaime Zapata is killed, and one of the firearms is a F&F handgun.

March 30, 2011: Sarah and Jim Brady visit the White House to talk to President Obama about gun control. President Obama tells them he is pressing for more stringent gun control, and says, “we just have to go through a few processes, but under the radar.”

May 30, 2011: Holder testifies before Congress that he had just heard about F&F a few weeks earlier, but late evidence shows he is lying and that he and his aides had been receiving reports for more than a year.

June 30, 2011: At a House Oversight Committee hearing, anti-gun lobbies argue that F&F shows the need for more gun control.

July 11, 2011: The Obama administration announces new gun control restrictions aimed only at southern border states.

Sept. 8, 2011: Cleanupatf.org, a web site for BATFE agents opposed to the F&F program, asks: “Does anyone here actually buy Holder’s claim that he and the DOJ’s senior leadership were entirely ‘unaware’ of an operation that deliberately allowed thousands of assault rifles, fragmentation grenades and other military grade weaponry to cross an international border?…This is clear either an incredibly brazen cover up of Watergate significance, or Eric Holder is among the most incompetent attorney generals ever to disgrace the office.”

Sept. 20, 2011: Mexican officials say at least 200 Mexicans have been killed by weapons from the F&F program.

Oct. 18, 2011: The Senate votes 99-0 to bar any funds for F&F type operations by BATFE.

Nov. 8, 2011: Eric Holder testifies before Congress saying American gun control laws are not strong enough but denies any responsibility for F&F.

Dec. 7, 2011: CBS reports that memos show the intention of F&F was to push for more gun control.

Dec. 17, 2011: Sixty congressmen, two senators and two governors who have called on Holder to resign.

Dec. 17, 2011: Eric Holder insists opposition to his performance as Attorney General has nothing to do with F&F and the coverup but instead is motivated by racism and the fact that both he and President Obama are African-Americans.

So, to sum up, we have an administration that planned a fake operation to send thousands of guns to known criminals and at the same time planned to use this operation as a justification for limiting your Second Amendment rights.

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About Geoff B.

Geoff B graduated from Stanford University (class of 1985) and worked in journalism for several years until about 1992, when he took up his second career in telecommunications sales. He has held many callings in the Church, but his favorite calling is father and husband. Geoff is active in martial arts and loves hiking and skiing. Geoff has five children and lives in Colorado.

10 thoughts on “Timeline for one of the underreported scandals of modern times

  1. Obviously any criminal who wants a gun can get one. Obviously anyone who wants to use drugs can easily obtain them. This despite decades and billions of dollars of ultimately useless enforcement efforts. The so-called serious politicians of both parties turn a blind eye to these obvious realities because they fear (correctly) that they will be demagogued to death by the cynical opportunists of the other party. I would almost vote for Ron Paul for this reason alone, if I thought he would be able to accelerate a move to sanity on the issue. Unfortunately, like for many of these generational disconnects, we will probably have to wait until the electorate turns over a few more cycles.

  2. Bill, I tend to think that Ron Paul could cause a “Nixon goes to China” moment for the Republican party. Their position as the “small govt” party is so obviously out of sync with their continual intrusion in peoples’ personal lives that it is a position that simply cannot last. Gallup showed for the first time 50 percent of people in favor of marijuana legalization. We may see decriminalization of marijuana sooner than you think. As for guns, all I can say is that I live in a rural area of Colorado where everybody, including me, has multiple guns, and there is virtually no crime and accidents are very, very rare because kids are taught gun safety from an early age. It would seem the solution there would be obvious.

  3. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives is a worthless little agency that should be put out of its misery, and its legitimate functions assumed by the FBI. A history of malfeasance for at least two decades now. Waco, Ruby Ridge, federal gun running – none of that would have happened without BATF involvement. They set the ball rolling in each case. It is a federal disaster promotion machine.

  4. Does the fallout from F&F shed any light on the real percentage of US weapons used in Mexico, or did it simply increase the number because it allowed greater access?

  5. Your anger at the ATF is probably justified but does not take away from the fact that it is our demand for drugs that fuels the drug trade and the availability of our guns that makes so much of the violence possible.

  6. Don, the drug cartels in Mexico have literally hundreds of non-U.S. sources for guns. Gun-running in Latin America has been going on for many years. There are Chinese AKs, Russian AKs, Israeli guns, etc, etc. Colombia does not share a border with the US, but the Colombian drug cartels have no problem getting guns. In some cases, AKs are easier to get and less expensive from non-US providers. Any criminal who wants to get guns will get them, just as anybody who wants to get drugs will get them. You are correct that the US demand is the real source of the drug trade, but you seem to miss the fact that there is a Mexican demand for guns and that this demand will be fulfilled by a supply from the entire world, even if we could somehow completely end all gun sales in the US (good luck with that).

  7. I am quite surprised that Holder has not resigned by now. This is going to be a major issue in the presidential campaign anyway, but every day that Holder is still the AG is one more day that his incompetence will be another drag on Pres. Obama.
    Even worse for team Obama, their lowest rated political opponents, the Republican Congress, can subpoena Holder and look brilliant and non-political by grilling him. They can score major points with law and order types, the NRA, hispanics, libertarians, wow what a bonanza.

  8. This should be a major scandal, but for some odd reason people on the left have decided it’s just some sort of fever swamp conspiracy theory.

    This behavior would be despicable, regardless of who did it or what party they were in – but the left has shown party loyalty trumps civil rights and the lives of innocents, apparently.

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