ATF Death Watch 89: 40 Fast and Furious Firearms “Found” in Dallas(gunwalker)

The Truth About Guns ^ | 29 September, 2011 | Robert Farago

[marktwain]

There are so many curious aspects to the Gunwalker scandal. There are well over a thousand smoking guns still out there, somewhere. All of which prove that the ATF “lost control” of Operation Fast and Furious. But there is no single piece of evidence that answers the fundamental question about Uncle Sam’s gun running black bag job: why? What was the point of allowing bad guys to buy guns? The ATF claims they were going after the “big fish” controlling the U.S. gun stores-to-Mexican drug cartel weapons trade. That hardly seems likely—as there were no big fish to be gotten. It now looks like the ATF set about creating one. Or more. Equally damning, the ATF knew that Bureau-enabled guns were going awry a lot earlier than previously admitted . . .

A cache of assault weapons lost in the ATF’s gun-trafficking surveillance operation in Phoenix turned up in El Paso, where it was being stored for shipment to Mexico, according to new internal agency emails and federal court records.

Forty firearms along with ammunition magazines and ballistic vests were discovered in Texas in January 2010 during the early stages of the program, meaning the firearms vanished soon after the program began.

So what did the ATF do? Kept going of course. The latimes.com drills down on the logistics of the El Paso guns:

According to an ATF document, Sean Christopher Steward bought the 40 AK-47-type assault rifles on Dec. 24, 2009, from the Lone Wolf Trading Co. gun store in Glendale, a suburb of Phoenix. The cache was part of 290 firearms ultimately acquired by Steward, a convicted drug felon, during the Fast and Furious operation . . .

According to ATF emails and a federal court affidavit, El Paso police officers tracking alleged drug smuggling from Mexico followed a dark blue Volkswagen Jetta as it backed into a garage at a residence on Jan. 13, 2010. The driver was identified as Alberto Sandoval. Police later searched the vehicle and found the weapons and other devices.

According to an email from ATF Special Agent Oscar B. Flores in El Paso, Sandoval told authorities that he was paid $1,000 “to store the firearms at his residence until they could be transported to the Republic of Mexico” by an unknown third party.

More emails discussing Sandoval’s arrest and the recovery of the weapons were sent to Washington headquarters and Kenneth Melson, then the ATF acting director, and William J. Hoover, the assistant director.

Sandoval was indicted and pleaded guilty to weapons charges in May 2010 in U.S. District Court in El Paso. He was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison.

The latimes.com mentions the fact that Steward was a convicted felon in passing. But that little factoid is yet more evidence that the FBI was in on Operation Fast & Furious, and not in a good way. The Agency had to game their instant background check system to let Steward’s purchases go through.

Common sense suggests that Steward knew the FBI and ATF knew that he was buying guns illegally. A convicted felon doesn’t expect to walk into a gun store and walk out with 290 firearms. If so, why the jail time? If not, why didn’t the ATF yank his chain earlier? Clearly, his tail was loose, at best.

The F&F-enabled guns went from Lone Wolf to Steward to Sandoval to a Dallas garage, in anticipation of an “unknown third party” Who somehow isn’t identified in the course of the investigation triggered when the local fuzz nab Bad Guy number two. And . . . that’s it.

As my mother likes to say, there’s no there there. No clearly delineated strategy behind Operation Fast and Furious, either in its idealized state (a “sting operation”) or in its actuation (literally incredible investigative tactics).

I still maintain that there’s an intersection between the ATF’s stingless sting and America’s federal policy towards Mexico and Mexican drug thugs. To try and view the ATF’s gun running in isolation, without examining the activities of all the other agencies implicated (DEA, IRS, CPB, ICE, FBI and the CIA), is to contemplate a diseased tree without considering the health of the forest.

Meanwhile, Mexico is on fire.

[marktwain]

Motivations are difficult things to pin down. I like to look at results. But in this case, the idea that "walking" these guns would somehow lead to "taking down a cartel" is so patently ludicrous that it begs for a different explanation. The usual pleas of stupidity and incompetence simply are not credible.

[Joe Brower]

[Linda Frances]

My husband is a strong believer that the 2nd amendment. He says it was meant to protect from a government out of control. He says there is no way the administration was allowing the guns to cross the border so later the liberals could blame US gun dealers/gun owners and use as an excuse to take guns from US citizens. Does anyone know if there is any evidence at all to back this up? My husband says he does not like obama/liberals, but seems to side with them over me every time we have a discussion. I worry he's listening to a friend who says he's conservative, yet makes too many remarks that are liberal views.

[RJS1950]

"...there were no big fish to be gotten."

I would beg to differ. They have created a pathway to the criminal actions of a number of "big fish" starting with the U.S. Attorney General.

FUBO & FAD

[IMR 4350]

$1000 for storage?

So much for the profit motive.

Kind of odd that they are finding guns stockpiled here in the states.

Think it might be possible these guns were never intended for Mexico but for use here in the states?

Who would team Zippo be arming up here in the states?

[MestaMachine]

[Pigsley]

I don't understand your husband's argument “it was meant to protect from a gvt out of control”. What does that mean? The DOJ did indeed know this was going on. Even if you just google the subject plenty of facts come up re: the DOJ’s involvement. There have even been a few e-mails that tie the inception of Gunwalker to the WH. If you have the time and interest, spend an hour and just start reading. Do a search here on FR...there was one great post that pretty much boiled everything down. Sorry I don't have a link to that. A little search will give you plenty of info to GIVE TO HIM. Let him read the info, then pass it on to his “friend” for his opinion. I've done this and it opened a few eyes.

The thing that I find the most damning is the 2 year old video of Mr. Obama assuring the wife of James Brady (Brady law) not to worry that more isn't being done re: gun control...That he was working on something “under the radar”. That says it all for me....Although of course this is “proof”...if you look at all the evidence that is coming out...It makes sense.

I do wish Issa would put this in 4th gear. If Whitewater and Water Gate deserved a special investigation...surely, with the loss of life involved, this does.

[Howie]

I remember a Chinese SHIPLOAD of AKs being discovered in the Ca Bay area with mucho ammo. I don’t think I ever heard where they were headed or who financed them? This was during the Clinton Regime.

Best guess here: CIA was planning one of their phony “wars”.

[Bluebird Singing]

Maybe the missing firearms are in the hands of obama’s Civilian National Security Force to achieve the goals he has set.

The New Black Panthers would find them a lot more effective than those billy clubs. Those terrorist cells could do a fantastic job with them also.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwaAVJITx1Y

[basil]

Who would team Zippo be arming up here in the states?

That's what I've been wondering for a while now. Nothing makes sense to me in the things we have read in the media about "Fast and Furious" and "Gunwalker"

There has to be another reason why our government came up with this deal. Now, to figure out what that reason is............

All I know for sure, it can't be good.

[Erik Latranyi]

What the author and many people still have not added into this story is the fact that the BATFE was having their own agents also purchase firearms themselves that were being given/sold to known criminals.

This clearly shows the intent was to move the weapons into the criminal hands.

Also, as has been evidenced, allowing the same criminal (who failed background check) to come week-after-week into a gun store where he was buying 20+ firearms at each visit also shows the program had no controls whatsoever.

Finally, and most curious, was Obama’s statement to gun control groups in a private meeting that he was working on gun control “behind the scenes”. This was during the time the Administration was complaining about the flow of firearms into Mexico from the United States...the same time the BATFE was allowing all these sales to go through.

[Pigsley]

Well, I'm (usually) not a conspiracy theorist....but after reading a lot about Gunwalker/Fast and Furious....I do believe this started out as a “brilliant” (*cough*) plan by Obama and his peep Holder to do an end run around the 2nd Ammendment. Believing this...it's not too much of a stretch to think that the weapons stockpiles they are finding were not meant to “conveniently” turn up at some of those “domestic terrorists” that Mr. Janet Nap wrote about.

I'll wait until the facts come drip, drip, dripping out...but if I could bet $$$ everything related to this mess started over cocktails with Barry and Eric, maybe with a touch of Rahm thrown in...and a teeny inspiration from “just a guy in the neighborhood” Ayers.

[Atlas Sneezed]

There has to be another reason why our government came up with this deal. Now, to figure out what that reason is...

---

The most plausible reason can be discerned by anyone aware of these simple undisputed facts:

1. The Obama administration (SOS Clinton) claims that most guns found at Mexican crime scenes are from America.

2. The claim is revealed to be untrue.

3. The Obama administration (BATFE) then smuggles multitudes of guns to Mexican criminals.

[Linda Frances]

I don't understand your husband's argument “it was meant to protect from a gvt out of control”. What does that mean?

---

Government out of control: Citizens can have guns to protect themselves from a government who is going against the constitution, taking away the rights guaranteed in the constitution.

[DTxAg]

4. Liberals in general and the Obama administration in particular want to use this as an excuse to ban guns from law abiding citizens.

[maine-iac7]

The ATF claims they were going after the “big fish” controlling the U.S. gun stores-to-Mexican drug cartel weapons trade.

IOW, they were setting up gun dealers to take a fall so's to give the excuse for more gun control BUT one smart dealer talked with his lawyer who told him:" TAPE!"

Is that about it?

[shotgun]

This all sounds like the plot for the Sons of Anarchy.

[basil]

So you’re saying that our government purposely armed Mexican criminals who have now killed between 2 and 300 Mexican citizens or more?

This no longer seems like my country. How are we ever going to undo all the wrong that obammy and his cohorts have done to the “Land of the free and the home of the brave”?

[IMR 4350]

The weapons you're talking about were brought in by BC’s Chinese buddies prior to the 1996 election. They were being delivered to the black gangs in LA.

The Clinton's had been ginning up civil unrest in the black community with BS stories of black churches being burned and visions of hooded riders through the night if BC wasn't reelected.

The Clinton's had no intention of leaving the WH in 96 and their buddies the Chinese were supplying the weapons to make sure they didn't.

1995 is when Bill Ayers patted Zippo on his head. Zippo was brought into the Clinton's inner circle for the 1996 election.

Zippo has always been Hillary's toad.

[Howie]

One of the most amazing things about these mysteries is how fast they disappear from the Internet! I searched for stories on this incident and found only one reference, a DEAD link!