In a letter to Sen. Lieberman, CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb reminded him that press reports and documents relating to Gunrunner indicate that the ATF “abetted the movement of firearms into the illicit gun market, and ultimately to drug cartels in Mexico.” Gottlieb also expressed his surprise that Lieberman’s letter to Holder did not mention either Gunrunner or Operation Fast-and-Furious, a project handled by the Phoenix ATF field office. [More]We discussed Lieberman's abdication of credibility in this in yesterday's GRE and shared a letter in today's.
Dave Workman also addressed this in his column yesterday, reported on this latest development today, and just sent me the text of Gottlieb's letter, below:
The Honorable Joseph Lieberman
Chairman
Committee on Homeland Security And Government Affairs
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Senator Lieberman:
As you must certainly be aware, thanks largely to the efforts of your colleague, Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, there is an on-going investigation regarding allegations that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Project Gunrunner and Operation Fast and Furious actually abetted the movement of firearms into the illicit gun market, and ultimately to drug cartels in Mexico.
Yet, in a letter you wrote two days ago to Attorney General Eric Holder, supporting ATF plans to require federal firearms licensees to report multiple long gun sales, you skip over this serious allegation as though it did not exist. In recent weeks, I have traveled to Arizona twice on business, and both times I have discussed this case with concerned Arizona residents.
Frankly, Senator, I am stunned that your May 16 letter to Mr. Holder makes no mention of Project Gunrunner or Operation Fast and Furious, or the seriousness of the allegations against ATF. Surely, you must know that ATF has almost entirely shuffled its management team at the Phoenix office in recent weeks since this controversy first erupted, reassigning and replacing them. That strongly suggests the agency knows there is and was a problem, and they are now trying to clean up a mess.
It is that mess which has allegedly allowed thousands of firearms to be purchased and transported by suspected gun smugglers. The agency to which you now advocate giving more power over firearms transactions in southwest states was responsible for allowing criminal suspects to complete multiple purchases of so-called “assault rifles,” despite the concerns of those licensed dealers you would have ATF micro-manage, and over the objections of its own field agents.
Senator Lieberman, you are widely regarded by friend and foe alike as a good and decent man. That is why I am astonished that you now support a strategy that places firearms dealers and their customers under additional scrutiny of an agency that may very well be largely responsible for creating a problem you now expect it to resolve.
CBS News and Fox News, several newspapers and independent on-line journalists have been covering this controversy for months. Surely you must be aware of this.
It is not the southwest firearms dealers who need investigating, Senator, but the ATF. It is not those gun dealers who should be held accountable for the flood of illicit firearms into Mexico, but the ATF officials who not only allowed it to happen, but encouraged it. Instead of supporting this new reporting strategy, I urge you to instead exercise your considerable influence to support Senator Grassley’s investigation of the Gunrunner controversy.
Sincerely,
Alan M. Gottlieb
Chairman
Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms
Yes, they knew there was a problem and are trying to clean up the mess in exactly the same way the Catholic Church cleaned up the messes made by pedophile priests -- transfer the misguided soul to another diocese/ATF office out of state.
ReplyDeleteWhy should government employees charged with ensuring the public safety get any sort of "pass" the government would not want to give to priests?