Gunwalker: ATF, FBI Forced Gun Stores to Sell to Felons
(H/T to Patrick Richardson)
As the Gunwalker investigation unfolds, new evidence shows that the FBI worked together with the ATF to ensure that convicted felons bought hundreds of firearms for the Mexican cartels. According to Fox:
[T]wo of the 20 defendants indicted in the Fast and Furious investigation have felony convictions and criminal backgrounds that experts say, at the very least, should have delayed them buying a single firearm.
To purchase firearms, buyers must undergo an Instant Check, which is run by the FBI.
The ATF site quotes federal law on firearms transfers to prohibited persons. The full text of Title 18, Section 922 (g) is available from Syracuse University. These categories include any person:
- Under indictment or information in any court for a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year;
- convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year;
Two felons purchased 360 firearms in the Phoenix area:
Court documents show the breakdown involves suspects Jacob Wayne Chambers, 21, and Sean Christopher Stewart, 28, both of Phoenix. Police arrested Chambers for felony burglary and trafficking stolen property in 2008, a year before he began buying more than 70 guns that ended up in the hands of the Sinaloa cartel. Stewart pled guilty to resisting arrest and criminal damage in 2001 and was arrested on drug charges in 2010. He was also charged with violating an order of protection and a local municipal court issued a warrant for his arrest. Stewart purchased 290 weapons.
Previously, Pajamas Media laid out the case for impeaching U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, in part due to his Department of Justice being an accessory to crime. Now the evidence mounts.
Very serious.
And a question: how the two felons did not know that they were involved in the operation ? They must have been aware that the Instant Check system would have (should have) raised a red flag.
When it didn’t, they kept buying weapons…They didn’t ask themselves how that was possible ?
Or instead the ATF had hired them ?
Excellent questions. Let’s hope our reps ask the same.
Congress should appoint a special prosecutor to investigate ATF, FBI and DOJ actions during operation Gunwalker for criminal conspiracy. If Eric Holder was not cognizant of these actions, Congress should demand his resignation for incompetence. If he was, Congress should impeach Holder.
It’s not clear from this whether:
1. The dealer chose to ignore the instant check info.
2. The felony information came up, but the ATF and/or FBI told them to sell, anyway.
3. The FBI fed the dealer false information.
Or did I miss something?
To avoid copyright infringement, we have to limit the quotations. The entire article link is there. Had there been that level of dealer conspiracy, it would be noted, instead of the focus on two felons. The only other option is FBI and ATF conspiracy. Fox article lede says “federal officials won’t say how two suspects obtained more than 360 weapons despite criminal records that should have prevented them from buying even one gun.”
(I summarized all that in the first sentence.)
Does that answer your question? They could have just thrown the dealer(s) under the bus. As for whether it’s 2 or 3, hopefully investigation will reveal. Thanks for reading.
We have already heard testimony from several gun dealers that they informed the ATF that they had customers who looked like straw buyers and they didn’t want to sell to them, even though they passed IBC. ATF response: “Sell anyway, or lose your FFL.”
This is just more of the same, only with the additional twist that Instant Background Check should have flagged those two.
I sincerely hope the dealers involved documented anything out of the ordinary. Better, that they kept audio and video recordings, including the NICS check calls.
Any dealer who does not record the NICS check calls after this, is an over optimistic fool.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/can-a-minor-offense-eliminate-your-right-to-bear-arms/
I automatically thought of this when I read this story…