ATF: Gun in US agent's death traced to Texas man

[jpak]

http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20110228/NEWS03/110228027/Gun-US-agent-s-death-traced-Texas?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CHome

Three people suspected of smuggling guns to Mexico were arrested in a Dallas suburb on Monday after federal investigators traced the gun used in the killing of a U.S. agent in Mexico to one of them, officials said.

Agents of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested the suspected gun smugglers in morning raids in the southern Dallas suburb of Lancaster, Texas, ATF spokesman Tom Crowley said. Crowley referred questions on other details to the U.S. Justice Department in Washington. The agency planned to issue a news release.

The ATF said the gun was used in a Feb. 15 shooting of two federal agents who were driving on a highway near the northern city of San Luis Potosi on Feb. 15. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata was killed and agent Victor Avila was wounded.

Zapata and Avila, who worked at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, were attacked as they returned to Mexico City from a meeting with other U.S. personnel in the state of San Luis Potosi. Avila was shot twice in the leg and is recovering in the United States.

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[jpak]

1. So it wasn't linked to ATF's gun running investigation

NRA/GOP fail

yup

[X_Digger]

2. Wrong case..

That was phoenix.

*sigh*

At least attempt to get your facts straight.

[Sonoman]

3. Not Brownsville?

I thought it was a DEA agent in Brownsville, TX.

Operation GunRunner has been a hugh success.

I simply cannot feel anything for a DEA agent.

Fuck 'em.

Sonoman

[Turbineguy]

5. Maybe somebody will express the same sentiment for you

when your time comes.

[Sonoman]

6. I wouldn't expect any sympathy.

And neither should they.

Just like soldiers, they know what they are up against.

It ain't a playground, out there.

A friend of Growers,
Sonoman

[Callisto32]

9. I'm sure he (sonoman) didn't dedicate his career...

to violating people's rights and ruining their lives through enforcement of ridiculous laws of no effect, either...

Those that live by the sword, and all that.

This isn't to say that the lives of these people have no value, and that it isn't sad that they did not turn their lives around before the end came. Rather, it is more the effect of not feeling bad when a despot is no more. The difference between someone like Gadaffi and a DEA agent is not one of kind, but of magnitude. Both violate the rights of people through arbitrary dictate, and are convinced that it is okay for them to do so. It is sick, no matter the scale.

[friendly_iconoclast]

4. Facts that interfere with the propagation of the faith are mere inconveniences...

...and in no way reflect upon the higher truths given us by the Prophet Brady and Saint Paul (Helmke).

Silly heathen!

[jpak]

7. No it's ATF gun runnin' operations everywhere

get with the memo

yup

[Euromutt]

8. I'm pretty certain "Brian Terry" isn't spelled "J-a-i-m-e Z-a-p-a-t-a"

Also, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is not the same agency as Customs and Border Protection (CBP), though both fall under DHS.

The fail is yours, jpak.

[Callisto32]

10. I know it's kind of off topic but...

Does the change from Immigration and Nationalization Service to Immigration and Customs Enforcement bother any body else? I mean, they went from a name that suggests they provide service and is referred to by a neutral set of initials to a group whose name emphasizes enforcement and has a scary sounding acronym. Other than to "scare the little people" I can't figure out a good reason for this...

That the federal .gov seems to be TRYING to scare people with their VIPR teams and ICE agents is worrisome to me.

[Euromutt]

17. Don't forget that, next to ICE, there's also USCIS

Basically, what used to be the INS got split into:
a) the part that handles applications for immigrant visas, permanent residency and naturalization, which was renamed first Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS), and subsequently (for reasons unclear to me) USCIS;
b) the part that used to investigate violations of immigration law, which was merged with its counterpart from the US Customs Service to form ICE; and
c) the part that used to check passports and visas at borders and ports of entry and prevent unauthorized entry into the United States, which was merged with its border enforcement counterparts from the US Customs Service and the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, to form CBP, Customs and Border Protection.

In a sense, the agencies in question have been reorganized from a vertical structure to a horizontal one.

[jpak]

11. Sorry - I thought that all guns used in Mexican violence came from the ATF or US government

and none came from US gus shops and shows

silly me

:D

[PavePusher]

12. Not silly...

something... stronger.

[Common Sense Party]

13. Or...weaker.

[AtheistCrusader]

16. By all means, keep demonstrating your grasp of the issue.

Biggest strawmen in the gungeon always seem to be in your posts. I wonder why that is?

[Euromutt]

20. Who ever claimed that?

Except in your imagination, that is.

[rl6214]

14. Being the first to post to your own thread?

FAIL
:rofl:

[rl6214]

15. Innocent until convicted

and I wouldn't trust the ATF as far as I could throw them.

They don't have a very good track record for doing things legally.

NOPE

NOPE

NOPE

[Hoopla Phil]

18. A Texas man that had been under ATF surveillance for over a year for gun running.

Some day you may learn to not jump the gun with these reports until more information (details) come out. Details - the devil is in them (or is that the ATF?)

http://thetruthaboutguns.com/2011/03/robert-farago/gunwalker-gun-implicated-in-second-federal-agents-murder/#more-35853

Oh, and you do now realize that this is the SECOND Federal agent's death tied to the ATF's "gunrunner" program right?

[Katya Mullethov]

19. It's just those wacky Zetas again

Two now , both the result of ATF approved transactions . Quite the coincidence wouldnt you say ?
And we only heard of it because they were feds . To paraphrase , how many agents is enough to upset
the NRA ? If there are enough gunwalker guns to have been involved in two sepperate incidents months apart , there must be a buttload of gunwalker guns , and dare I say if there were two incidents a third is just as likely as the second . It seemed " highly improbable" at first too didnt it ?

It is important to bear in mind , these guns have a special value unto themselves due to their magic serial numbers . The cats that brought those guns into Mexico are likely well aware of this fact and tweeting their next nefarious practical joke even as we speak . Hell , wouldnt you , if you were a bored Zeta ? We are talking Epic Mexican Machiavelli comedy gold .

Quite a feather in one's gangster hat to be introduced in hushed tones as

"That's the guy that got half the ATF fired "

[Hoopla Phil]

22. I really like that last line but I'm hoping for something a little different. . .

"That's the guy that got the ATF disbanded."

[Katya Mullethov]

21. For those into reading stuff

Lots and lots of stuff .

///

Two of the Romanian AK-semi rifles were used to kill CBP Agent Brian Terry, who was armed with a nonlethal beanbag gun and a holstered handgun, and they were among the guns traced by BATF during their "Project Gunrunner" investigation over a year ago. One was used to shoot CBP Agent Terry from behind, the other used to "finish him off."

From Sen. Grassley's letter:
"After the shooting of CBP Agent Terry, law enforcement officials recovered from the scene two assault rifles. On December 16, 2010, ATF's trace results confirmed that serial numbers 1983AH3977 and 1971CZ3755 match two of the three rifles purchased by Avila and tracked by the ATF nearly a year earlier. In addition to these specific weapons, the indictment of Avila and other reference approximately 769 firearms. Of those, the indictment refers to the recovery of only about 103 weapons. So, where are the other approximately 666 weapons referenced in the indictment?"

*What we don't know yet, because the ATF and the Justice Department are unwilling to tell us, are the names of the faceless dead of other people in Mexico killed with rifles of similar provenance, provided them by SAC Newell and friends in the Phoenix ATF office. That such people existed is a certainty, and not just because our sources within ATF, those brave whistleblowers, tell us so. If with a wink and a nod you provide weapons to criminals, they will kill people with them. And they have, now on both sides of the border."

http://m.examiner.com/exStLouis/db_/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=Stiqacqz&full=true#display