ATF's Project Gun Runner: An Object Lesson In Corruption, Lies And Cover-ups - Granite Grok

ATF’s Project Gun Runner: An Object Lesson In Corruption, Lies And Cover-ups

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“I don’t believe gun owners have rights…”Sarah Brady, Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, October, 1997; “Handguns in America

What is Project Gun Runner? Project Gun Runner is a program implemented by the ATF for the express purpose of interdicting weapons used by the Mexican drug cartels into Mexico. Mexican drug cartels have emerged as the leading illegal gun traffickers in the U.S. First implemented in 2005 as a pilot project in Laredo Texas, the ATF went national with the program in 2006 with the objective of reducing or eliminating cross-border firearms and drug trafficking, as well as the high level of associative violence occurring on both sides of the border.

Project Gun Runner segued an expansion of the ATF’s eTrace firearm tracing software system to Thirty-two nations, a number of which have a demonstrative track record of police corruption anti-gun biases and overt fraud.  eTrace results provides these nations complete and unfettered access to American gun owner’s identities, names, addresses and personal information. Now, why would some government hack in Guyana have some need to access Rick Olson’s ATF purchase trace data? Most likely, none. But having such infrastructure in place would certainly interface well with the machinations of the future U.N. Treaty on Small Arms.

It has also been found that Project Gun Runner has netted an inverse result to its’ original stated purpose.  Senator Charles Grassley, (R) Iowa, initiated an investigation after he received credible evidence that the ATF had facilitated and allowed for the  sale of over 2,500 firearms, consisting of AK-47 rifles, FN 5.7mm pistols, AK-47 pistols, and .50 caliber rifles in ‘straw purchases. Also determined was the destiny of these guns were Mexico. The Phoenix Field Division of the ATF now only allowed but facilitated the sales, despite objections and discomfort of law-abiding Federally Licensed Firearms dealers enlisted to participate following their reports of suspicious purchases.

On December 14, 2010, Customs and Border Protection Agent Brian Terry was on patrol along a smuggling route in Arizona when a firefight erupted and Agent Terry was killed. In the immediate aftermath, assault rifles were recovered at the scene, one of which was traced back to a gun Shop in Arizona. on February 23rd of this year, Insiders told CBS’s Scott Pelley, “(This incident) surpasses the shoot-out at Ruby Ridge and the deadly siege at Waco.”

Special Agent John Dodson accuses the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allegedly let gun runners walk off with weapons – thousands of them – to see if they’d end up in the hands of the cartels, in an ABC News interview. The Justice Department and ATF have denied it ever happened and Senator Grassley went on to further investigate allegations of Retribution against Dodson as a “whistle-blower.”

It was not so long ago that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton got in front of the public media and decried the flow of illegal guns crossing into Mexico from the U.S. And the anti-second amendment ilk was sure to follow, calling for their usual stricter gun control measures. The Obama administration places the blame squarely on the shoulders of gun shop owners in border towns for the crimes committed by Mexican drug cartels, with the weapons purchased in the U.S. And despite the Obama administration’s full informed knowledge that their assertions were patently false, They ran with the accusation right to the drive-by media.

Fox News’ William LaJeunesse’s May 31, 2011 story, America’s Third War: Is the U.S. Arming Mexican Cartels? tells us, “According to State Department documents, in 2009 Mexico bought nearly $177 million worth of American-made weapons, exceeding sales to Iraq and Afghanistan. That number includes $20 million in semi- and fully automatic weapons.” An unknown number of M16 rifles sold legally by the U.S. Government to the Mexican government are not accounted for and U.S. Law Enforcement is gravely concerned about the disappearance of these weapons, according to State Department cables made public by Wikileaks.

The Obama administration is corrupt. Their anti-gun, anti-second amendment policy is crystal clear: Blame the law-abiding gun shop owners in Border States for the hemorrhaging of guns to the drug cartels while selling military weapons to a Mexican Government that tolerates and facilitates systemic corruption at all levels; Use Federal law enforcement sources to implement programs like Project Gun Runner where the ATF not only permits, but facilitates straw purchases to traffickers, allowing guns to end up in Mexico; Silence anybody within the government who attempts to expose this policy; and, Sandbag, stonewall and otherwise not cooperate with Senate or Congressional oversight Inquiries. Eric Holder should not only be fired, but he should be called to account for this whole messy scandal. Somebody in this Administration needs to go to jail.

Click Here to See Senator Grassley’s Investigation of Project Gun Runner

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