ATF Using Tactics Akin To Fast And Furious At Home To Undermine Gun Rights? Rep.Issa

Is The ATF Using Tactics Akin To Fast And Furious At Home To Undermine Gun Rights? Darrell Issa Thinks So

January 13, 2014 by Sam Rolley

House Oversight Committee chairman Representative Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said that a recent news report outlines how the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) is using tactics that amount to “Fast and Furious revisited” in a bid to increase support for the Obama Administration’s gun control crusade.

During a Sunday program on Fox News, Issa discussed a recent report by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel which details how ATF agents operating stings in six different cities “took advantage of the mentally ill, set up stings near churches and schools and made decisions which some claim actually increased crime in their neighborhoods.”

“This is Fast and Furious revisited,” Issa said. “You finally have a confirmed director, Todd Jones, who was supposed to clean up these operations. And instead — what you see in many of these cases — they’re continuing. They’re continuing to have this be what’s called a ‘rogue organization.’ But I think for the members of the ATF, I want to make sure I make one thing clear. The ATF never acts alone. The FBI and the U.S. attorneys in each of these areas — political appointees — they work hand in hand… This is the President, President Obama’s Department of Justice that continues to support these sting operations, these ‘rogue operations’ as they’re called, that lead to harm in communities.”

The Dec. 7 Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel report listed the following tactics used by the ATF in various stings throughout the Nation:

■ ATF agents befriended mentally disabled people to drum up business and later arrested them in at least four cities in addition to Milwaukee. In Wichita, Kan., ATF agents referred to a man with a low IQ as “slow-headed” before deciding to secretly use him as a key cog in their sting. And agents in Albuquerque, N.M., gave a brain-damaged drug addict with little knowledge of weapons a “tutorial” on machine guns, hoping he could find them one.

■ Agents in several cities opened undercover gun- and drug-buying operations in safe zones near churches and schools, allowed juveniles to come in and play video games and teens to smoke marijuana, and provided alcohol to underage youths. In Portland, attorneys for three teens who were charged said a female agent dressed provocatively, flirted with the boys and encouraged them to bring drugs and weapons to the store to sell.

■ As they did in Milwaukee, agents in other cities offered sky-high prices for guns, leading suspects to buy firearms at stores and turn around and sell them to undercover agents for a quick profit. In other stings, agents ran fake pawnshops and readily bought stolen items, such as electronics and bikes — no questions asked — spurring burglaries and theft. In Atlanta, agents bought guns that had been stolen just hours earlier, several ripped off from police cars.

■ Agents damaged buildings they rented for their operations, tearing out walls and rewiring electricity — then stuck landlords with the repair bills. A property owner in Portland said agents removed a parking lot spotlight,damaging her new $30,000 roof and causing leaks, before they shut down the operation and disappeared without a way for her to contact them.

■ Agents pressed suspects for specific firearms that could fetch tougher penalties in court. They allowed felons to walk out of the stores armed with guns. In Wichita, agents suggested a felon take a shotgun, saw it off and bring it back — and provided instructions on how to do it. The sawed-off gun allowed them to charge the man with a more serious crime.

■ In Pensacola, the ATF hired a felon to run its pawnshop. The move widened the pool of potential targets, boosting arrest numbers.Even those trying to sell guns legally could be charged if they knowingly sold to a felon. The ATF’s pawnshop partner was later convicted of pointing a loaded gun at someone outside a bar. Instead of a stiff sentence typically handed down to repeat offenders in federal court, he got six months in jail — and a pat on the back from the prosecutor.

Issa— who, along with Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Representative Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), has asked Jones to provide Congress with some answers about the ATF’s questionable tactics— told Fox viewers that the agency’s actions are directly related to the White House’s disdain for the 2^nd Amendment.

“I think what we have here once again is a war on guns, if you will, that causes them to take these bold moves — bold and reckless moves — because they hate guns so much,” he said.

“Fast and Furious had the opposite effect; it made Americans scared of their government… Whether it’s Fast and Furious or being lied to by the NSA, the American people are getting tired of assuming that an agency does one thing and then finding out that they’re abusing citizens, and in this case the mentally retarded.”

Filed Under: 2nd Amendment Under Fire, Liberty News, Staff Reports

http://personalliberty.com/2014/01/1...ssa-thinks-so/

Issa: The ATF is using “rogue” tactics to wage a “war on guns”

posted at 6:01 pm on January 13, 2014 by Erika Johnsen

Video at the Page Link:

The definitively not-”botched” but certainly ill-conceived Operation Fast & Furious isn’t the only instance of gun-related sketchiness and/or idiocy exhibited by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives under the Obama administration (and as for sketchy versus idiotic, we have yet to fully discern which, since the Obama administration is still deliberately refusing to tell us); in December, Allahpundit detailed the bizarre report from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on the ATF’s use of weirdly small-beans and wildly questionable methods to stage generally ineffective storefront stings in six cities across the country, sometimes taking advantage of the mentally ill to do so. Last week, a group of Congressional Republicans sent the Obama administration a letter slamming their “almost unimaginable” tactics, and House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa is planning to keep on keepin’ on in pursuing the ATF’s very peculiar behavior as an Oversight agenda item in 2014:

Watch the latest video at http://video.foxnews.com">video.foxnews.com

This is Fast & Furious revisited. You finally have a confirmed director, Todd Jones, who was supposed to clean up this operation. And instead, what you see in many of these cases, they’re continuing, they’re continuing to have this be what’s called a “rogue organization.” But I think for the members of the ATF, I want to make sure I make one thing clear: The ATF never acts alone. The FBI and the U.S. attorneys in each of these areas, political appointees in the case of the U.S. attorney, they work hand in hand. So this is not something where you say, “well, it’s a few agents,” as they tried to say in Fast & Furious. This is the president, President Obama’s Department of Justice, that continues to support these sting operations, these “rogue operations” as they’re called, that lead to harm in communities. … I think what we have here once again is a war on guns, if you will, that causes them to take these bold moves, bold and reckless moves, because they hate guns so much.

Tags: ATF, crime, Darrell Issa, Department of Justice, guns, House Oversight Committee, Operation Fast and Furious

Related Posts:

• DoJ puts Obama donor in charge of IRS investigation
• Democrats backing away from gun control after a banner year for gun sales
• NYT: We also know better about religious fidelity than a bunch of nuns

http://hotair.com/archives/2014/01/1...a-war-on-guns/

ATF’s “Appalling and Unimaginable” Sting Tactics in War on Guns

Posted on Monday, January 13th, 2014 at 5:20 pm.
by: Benjamin Franklin

http://www.conservativeinfidel.com/w...1/atfagent.jpg
By Lily Dane

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) should be a top contender for the award for the most dangerous and idiotic government agency.
Tactics used in stings conducted by the organization are under fire, and some members of Congress want answers. California Rep. Darrell Issa, the Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee, is leading the way.
He accused the Obama administration of waging “a war on guns” based on reports of the ATF’s “rogue” 2013 sting operations.
Last Thursday, Issa, Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), and Robert Goodlatte (R-Va.), signed a letter to ATF Director B. Todd Jones to demand answers about a series of agency failures (and just plain stupid actions) that were exposed by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The scathing letter demands answers to a series of questions about tactics used in storefront stings in six cities. About a year ago, Congress wrote to the ATF to inquire about an undercover storefront operation in Milwaukee that was dubbed “Operation Fearless.” According to last week’s letter, that sting was “rife with blunders, including theft of an assault rifle and two handguns from the primary undercover agent’s government vehicle, the burglary of the undercover storefront, and the recruitment of an allegedly brain-damaged man to coordinate gun deals.”
Apparently, the ATF gave Congress the impression that those questionable tactics and blunders were isolated to the Milwaukee sting. Now, based on watchdog reporting by the Journal Sentinel, Congress wants to know about stings in at least five other cities.

The Journal Sentinel found that the ATF used mentally disabled individuals to promote their operations in at least five cities — including paying one to get a tattoo on his neck advertising their storefront — and later had them charged with gun and drug crimes. The tattoo was of a giant squid smoking a joint.
In Milwaukee, three guns belonging to the case’s lead undercover agent, including a machine gun, were stolen. The machine gun remains missing.
Across the country, agents put stings near schools and churches, increasing arrest numbers and penalties — and attracting juveniles with free video games and alcohol. They paid so much for guns and other goods that in some cities it encouraged burglaries. In some cases, defendants bought guns at stores such as Gander Mountain and sold them to undercover agents hours later for more than double what they paid. (source)

The letter also questions the ATF about the waste of taxpayer money on purchases. For example, in Milwaukee, ATF agents spent $1250 on a gun that normally costs $400 – $700 and paid $2000 for a rifle that a suspect bought a few hours before at a retailer for $700.
Other alarming tactics and activities including agents instructing suspects on “field testing” automatic weapons and how to modify a weapon were questioned as well.
Concerns about poor management and the lack of accountability and supervision at the agency were raised, with comparisons to Operation Fast and Furious – and the fact that no one was fired over that incident was pointed out.
“Operations like this raise questions as to whether ATF was manufacturing crime that would not have otherwise occurred, effectively increasing the overall crime rates in the neighborhoods where the storefronts were located,” the letter said.
On Fox News, Issa shared some harsh words for the Obama administration:

“This is ‘Fast and Furious’ revisited. You finally have a confirmed director, Todd Jones, who was supposed to clean up these operations. And instead — what you see in many of these cases — they’re continuing. They’re continuing to have this be what’s called a ‘rogue organization.’ But I think for the members of the ATF, I want to make sure I make one thing clear. The ATF never acts alone. The FBI and the U.S. attorneys in each of these areas — political appointees — they work hand in hand… This is the president, President Obama’s Department of Justice that continues to support these sting operations, these ‘rogue operations’ as they’re called, that lead to harm in communities.”

Issa explained why the Obama administration is going to such extremes to get guns off the street:

“I think what we have here once again is a war on guns, if you will, that causes them to take these bold moves — bold and reckless moves — because they hate guns so much,” he said. “‘Fast and Furious’ had the opposite effect; it made Americans scared of their government… Whether it’s ‘Fast and Furious’ or being lied to by the NSA, the American people are getting tired of assuming that an agency does one thing and then finding out that they’re abusing citizens, and in this case the mentally retarded.”

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz is already investigating the ATF’s Milwaukee storefront sting, as part of a review of reforms promised by the agency in the wake of its disastrous Operation Fast and Furious. He has not indicated if he will expand his investigation to include storefront stings in cities other than Milwaukee. His spokesman declined to comment Friday.


http://www.conservativeinfidel.com/o...tics-war-guns/

http://www.alipac.us/f9/warning-gun-...t-back-295542/