Justice Department denies border shootout claim

Brady McCombs, Arizona Daily Star Arizona Daily Star
Posted: Tuesday, February 8, 2011 2:14 pm


The Department of Justice denies a claim that the ATF allowed the sale and transport of two guns into Mexico that were used to kill a Border Patrol agent in December.

In a letter sent on Jan. 27 to the director of the ATF, by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote that members of the Judiciary Committee had received numerous allegations that the ATF sanctioned the sale of three assault rifles in Glendale, Ariz. on Jan. 16, 2010 — two of which were used in a Dec. 14, 2010 gunfight northwest of Nogales that killed Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.

In a Feb. 4 response to Grassley, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich of the U.S. Department of Justice said that allegation is false.

“ATF makes every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico,â€