Posted on 06/27/2012 8:10:39 PM PDT by Nachum
Counter-arguments to charges by Obama administration supporters that Fast and Furious “gunwalking” began in the Bush-era Operation Wide Receiver program have been gaining wider attention over the past few days, with numerous tips and inquiries being sent by readers to Gun Rights Examiner for comment. Just as with many of the wrong assumptions being promulgated by administration supporters, there are some misconceptions being promoted by its detractors that require clarification if the goal is to understand what happened, as opposed to merely spreading a “perception becomes reality” meme.
Among these misconceptions being repeated: that no Wide Receiver guns “walked” to Mexico because they were all controlled deliveries; that no one was killed; that the Mexican government was fully informed; that RFID tracking devices were placed in all the guns; and that the program was shut down at the first sign of danger.
Gun dealer and writer Mike Detty was a central figure in Wide Receiver, who, in his capacity as confidential informant for ATF, sold 450 rifles and handguns to suspected traffickers. As Paul Barrett reported in Bloomberg Businessweek, “The vast majority of the guns were never recovered by U.S. authorities.” This means control was not maintained on all deliveries, and it is impossible to tell if any people have been killed, and if so, how many. Still, it's crucial to note Detty was told that surveillance would be maintained, and he took great personal risk to assist law enforcement.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
HERE IS THE BOTTOM LINE:
Forget Wide Receiver / Gun Walker / Gun Runner / Fast + Furious.
The REAL ISSUE is that our government has CONCEDED the state of ARIZONA to the leading Mexican Cartel. The FEDS are already denying any support for border enforcement...in Arizona.
There are signs in Arizona warning citizens to stay away as they are smuggling corridors.
Obama and Calderon could not control the Cartels, so they picked one side to support. That is what they were meeting about, and that is what has happened. Agent Terry got killed in crossfire between various agencies undercover men who had ‘infiltrated’ the cartels, using guns that the ATF forced dealers to sell to undercover CIA agents (posing as gun mules) who were spreading the ‘wealth’ so to speak to various foreign nations. They are currently supplying the (wrong) side in Syria with weapons.
The CIA was doing this ‘stuff’ during the Bush Administration, and the Kennedy Administration, and they continue now.
Bush didn’t give them a state to use for a corridor. Obama has.
Probably a setup, too.
Recall, it was Federal agents who indicated to Randy Weaver where they wanted the shotgun cut off (iirc, 1/8 inch too short to be legal), and then came back offering to ignore the charges if he would be an informant on local separatists. Weaver wouldn't play along and rat out his neighbors...
I've been questioning it as well. What good is RFID unless you are passing the guns through one of those readers at walmart? Others have said they used GPS. That dosn't really make sense either, as GPS is a reciever, not a transmitter, among other things.
How?
Exactly. It’s a problem of physics: battery power, range etc.
How?
Rush has been explaining this for the past few days. RFID or GPS chips were on every weapon. When the cartels figured that part out and started removing them, Operation Wide Receiver was stopped.
I'm not sure how that explains anything.Do you know what the range of an RFID chip is? We're talking 30 feet max, and that requires a really sensitive reader to excite the chip and read the SN off of it. A GPS receiver would tell the gun where it was, but that doesn't help either, as it is a receiver, not a transmitter. Since the RFID reader would know where it was, what the heck use is a GPS device?
Also, in saying that these "chips" were on each weapon, are you saying that the government was providing these modified guns to the dealers? Where exactly would one install a GPS chip? Where would it get its power from? If it also had some kind of transmitter, where was its power source? How much range did it have?
You see, someone just waving their hands and invoking RFID and GPS as some kind of magic doesn't really work in the real world. In order for this to make sense, we need less magic, and more actual facts.
The weapons were fitted with transmitters and the Mexican government knew about the program. They would trace the signals when the weapons came across the border and where they were headed.
I remember a thread not long ago that had a lot of facts with links, but did not reply or bookmark it for future reference.
If you see that again, I’d appreciate a ping, because so far, what I’ve read about this just doesn’t make any sense.
radio transmitters
“The vast majority of the guns were never recovered by U.S. authorities.” This means control was not maintained on all deliveries, and it is impossible to tell if any people have been killed, and if so, how many. ..."
That is not the point. "Walking" is defined as no intention to keep track of or interdict the guns being smuggled. That is explicitly said by these four ATF agents in their sworn deposition to the House committee.
The Department of Justice ’ s Operation Fast and Furious: Accounts of ATF Agents(above) Four ATF field agents testify under oath that they "never even heard of intentionally letting guns "walk" before F&F."
“I've been saying it to anyone who will listen,” Detty added, “Bill Newell [Phoenix Special Agent in Charge] was politically motivated. He saw himself running ATF one day and thought that he'd score points by bringing big headlines and obtaining increased funding for his agency. ..."
If that is all there is to it, if Newell is the sole progenitor of F&F and the gun "walking" tactics, then why wouldn't Holder have given his head on a silver platter to the House committee a long time ago? Holder could have cited Newell's actions from the Bush administration onward and let Newell twist in the wind as a rogue bureaucrat who greedily twisted DoJ-ATF policy for years.
a gun dealer who got caught selling illegal arms for a ‘hobby
I have talked to Mike Detty and read his book.
Here is my review of his book:
http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2014/07/book-review-guns-across-border-by-mike.html
Well... that’s why I ended both sentences with a question mark.
: )
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