Operation Fast and Furious Under Fire

The fight over Operation Fast and Furious (a.k.a. Project Gunrunner) is getting uglier. The Washington Post published an article this week that claimed “Rep. Darrell Issa (Calif.), who has repeatedly called for top Justice Department officials to be held accountable for the now-defunct operation, was given highly specific information about it at an April 2010 briefing.” The claims come from unnamed sources, presumably from inside the Department of Justice, headed by Attorney General Eric Holder. Congressman Issa’s office flatly denied the claims that he was aware of Operation Fast and Furious, making the point that “For months, [the Deparment of Justice has] been asserting that they had no knowledge that this was ever happening. Now, it seems like they’re radically trying to change that and assert that not only were they aware of this, but that they were telling members of Congress all about this.”

Meanwhile, outside of Washington D.C., it has been reported that the brother of the Attorney General of Chihuahua state in Mexico was killed using a AK-47s purchased as part of Operation Fast and Furious, presumably by the Sinaloa cartel which sought to pressure AG Patricia Gonzalez Rodriguez into admitting that she used her office to protect the rival Juarez cartel.

At the same time the Obama administration is arming drug cartels in Mexico, the president has been reported to be working “under the radar,” on additional gun controls here in the U.S. For the types of backdoor gun control you might expect from these efforts read the recent Mike Piccione piece Back Door Gun Control and Fighting Back. Piccione talks about numerous forms of backdoor gun control including taxes, engineering regulations, tracking measures, ammunition restrictions and more. Scary stuff. Piccione also plugs Self-Defense Shield, an insurance policy for people who may use a gun to defend themselves.

In an interview with Fox Business, Gunowners of America executive director Larry Pratt draws some different and drastic conclusions from the Operation Fast and Furious controversy. Watch the video below for Pratt’s interpretation.