Was Operation Gunrunner a Pet Project of Gun-Control Senators?
COMMENTARY | There is a tenuous connection between the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Enforcement, Operation Gunrunner, and top Democrats in the Senate, but it's a connection worth looking at.
The quick brief on "Operation Gunrunner" is that it was a misguided ATF plan hatched by as yet unknown ATF officials which allowed guns purchased in the U.S. to "walk" across the borders into Mexico. Anyone tempted to think that would be a good idea should think of trying the same thing with gangs like MS-13 operating in the U.S.
Of course, guns purchased under the watchful eyes of ATF agents don't actually "walk" across the border; they are smuggled across and sold to ready buyers, often to members of Mexico's best known drug gangs, the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas.
The Gulf Cartel and the Zetas used to be pals, but the relationship fell apart with bloody consequences. Across from Brownsville, Texas is the Mexican city of Matamoras where "El Lazca," the Zetas' top man, was killed a few days ago in a gunfight that lasted for about two days.
The violent skirmish that killed "El Lazca" (real name Heriberto Lazcano) began not in the darkness of night but at 2 p.m. in the afternoon. That fight preceded one the day before which killed 13 people, according to the Brownsville Herald.
Exact figures of killed and wounded are hard to come by, but there's no doubt that Mexico's drug wars are more than a "kinetic military action."
So why was the ATF helping gun smugglers to get weapons across the border to fuel the drug wars? The official ATF answer is that it would be a useful tool leading to the capture of people like Heriberto Lazcano. Mission accomplished, you might say, minus the "capture" part.
On the other hand, the assortment of semi-auto AK-47s and AR-15s and other weapons supplied by the ATF Gunrunner managers also killed agent Brian Terry in Arizona, and likely DEA agent Jaime Zapata, ambushed along with another agent in San Luis Potoso.
The stated official purpose of the Gunrunner "Fast and Furious" Operation didn't make sense to Congressman Darryl Issa who conducted hearings on the operation. The hearings could soon lead to the resignation of ATF chief Kenneth Melson, and possibly other officials.
Attorney General Eric Holder, questioned by Issa's committee, says he didn't learn of the operation until "weeks ago" and President Barack Obama said he hadn't heard of it either.
It's possible that Melson's operation was given tacit approval in a milieu of silence, referencing the policies of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and three ardent anti-gun senators: Dianne Feinstein, Charles Schumer, and Sheldon Whitehouse.
Earlier this month, the three senators sent a report to a congressional subcommittee recommending an expansion of ATF cooperation with Mexico to curtail U.S. gun sales.
Conspicuously lacking in the senators' report are any recommendations on border security. A real plan to secure the borders would interdict drug, human, and gun smuggling, were that the real intent.
The entire purpose of Operation Gunrunner seems to be to fulfill the wishful thinking of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who made common ground with Mexico's leaders in stating that Mexico's drug violence stems from lax American gun laws.
In the fanciful analytics of top ATF bureaucrats, the solution was to force U.S. licensed firearms dealers to make repeated illegal gun sales to known criminals. It seems never to have occurred to anyone that serial numbers can be filed off the weapons or that operation Gunrunner would lead to more Americans and Mexicans being killed.
Anthony Ventre is a freelance writer who has written for several weekly and daily newspapers, for Demand Studios, and for AOL Online. He is a frequent Yahoo contributor, concentrating in news and financial writing.
The quick brief on "Operation Gunrunner" is that it was a misguided ATF plan hatched by as yet unknown ATF officials which allowed guns purchased in the U.S. to "walk" across the borders into Mexico. Anyone tempted to think that would be a good idea should think of trying the same thing with gangs like MS-13 operating in the U.S.
Of course, guns purchased under the watchful eyes of ATF agents don't actually "walk" across the border; they are smuggled across and sold to ready buyers, often to members of Mexico's best known drug gangs, the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas.
The Gulf Cartel and the Zetas used to be pals, but the relationship fell apart with bloody consequences. Across from Brownsville, Texas is the Mexican city of Matamoras where "El Lazca," the Zetas' top man, was killed a few days ago in a gunfight that lasted for about two days.
The violent skirmish that killed "El Lazca" (real name Heriberto Lazcano) began not in the darkness of night but at 2 p.m. in the afternoon. That fight preceded one the day before which killed 13 people, according to the Brownsville Herald.
Exact figures of killed and wounded are hard to come by, but there's no doubt that Mexico's drug wars are more than a "kinetic military action."
So why was the ATF helping gun smugglers to get weapons across the border to fuel the drug wars? The official ATF answer is that it would be a useful tool leading to the capture of people like Heriberto Lazcano. Mission accomplished, you might say, minus the "capture" part.
On the other hand, the assortment of semi-auto AK-47s and AR-15s and other weapons supplied by the ATF Gunrunner managers also killed agent Brian Terry in Arizona, and likely DEA agent Jaime Zapata, ambushed along with another agent in San Luis Potoso.
The stated official purpose of the Gunrunner "Fast and Furious" Operation didn't make sense to Congressman Darryl Issa who conducted hearings on the operation. The hearings could soon lead to the resignation of ATF chief Kenneth Melson, and possibly other officials.
Attorney General Eric Holder, questioned by Issa's committee, says he didn't learn of the operation until "weeks ago" and President Barack Obama said he hadn't heard of it either.
It's possible that Melson's operation was given tacit approval in a milieu of silence, referencing the policies of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and three ardent anti-gun senators: Dianne Feinstein, Charles Schumer, and Sheldon Whitehouse.
Earlier this month, the three senators sent a report to a congressional subcommittee recommending an expansion of ATF cooperation with Mexico to curtail U.S. gun sales.
Conspicuously lacking in the senators' report are any recommendations on border security. A real plan to secure the borders would interdict drug, human, and gun smuggling, were that the real intent.
The entire purpose of Operation Gunrunner seems to be to fulfill the wishful thinking of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who made common ground with Mexico's leaders in stating that Mexico's drug violence stems from lax American gun laws.
In the fanciful analytics of top ATF bureaucrats, the solution was to force U.S. licensed firearms dealers to make repeated illegal gun sales to known criminals. It seems never to have occurred to anyone that serial numbers can be filed off the weapons or that operation Gunrunner would lead to more Americans and Mexicans being killed.
Anthony Ventre is a freelance writer who has written for several weekly and daily newspapers, for Demand Studios, and for AOL Online. He is a frequent Yahoo contributor, concentrating in news and financial writing.
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