Gun shop owner expressed concerns early on in "gunwalker" scandal

[beevul]

Gun shop owner expressed concerns early on in "gunwalker" scandal

Posted by Sharyl Attkisson


Damning, newly-obtained emails show that a key gun shop owner made explicit concerns in writing last year in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms' "gunwalking" scandal.


Starting in late 2009, ATF allegedly directed an undetermined number of Phoenix-area gun shop owners to go ahead with sales of thousands of assault rifles and other weapons to suspicious buyers. Insiders claim ATF knew the buyers were connected to Mexico's drug cartels, but let the guns "walk" onto the street anyway in a misguided attempt to obtain intelligence. ATF and the Justice Department have denied that.

In an April 13, 2010 email, the unnamed gun shop owner told ATF he was worried how he'd be viewed if the guns he sold ended up in the wrong hands.


"We just want to make sure we are cooperating with ATF and that we are not viewed as selling to bad guys," the gun shop owner wrote to ATF Phoenix Supervisor David Voth. The gun shop owner asked for a letter of understanding to "alleviate concerns of some type of recourse against us down the road for selling these items."


Two months later, on June 17, 2010, the same gun shop owner again wrote ATF's Supervisor Voth again after he saw a Fox News report about firearms and the border. The gun shop owner called the report "disturbing" and stated "When you , , and I met on May 13th <2010>, I shared my concerns with you guys that I wanted to make sure that none of the firearms that were sold per our conversation with you and various ATF agents could or would ever end up south of the border or in the hands of the bad guys... I want to help ATF with its investigation but not at the risk of agents' safety because I have some very close friends that are U.S. Border Patrol Agents in southern AZ."


http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20053961-10391695.html

Link to the emails themselves:

http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/gunwalking_emails_041411.pdf



It just keeps getting deeper.


People need to be prosecuted and jailed over this.

[Glassunion]

1. More NRA / GOP bullshit talking points.

90%!!!!!

[beevul]

2. Kick for justice...

Kick for justice for the Terry family.


And kick for the day crew.

[one-eyed fat man]

3. An ill-concieved attempt to garner publicity.

Someone in ATF headquarters dreamed up this fiasco of a "sting operation."

Well, they got their headlines!

You have the SAC in Phoenix testifying that his supervisor said, "... this has been cleared over at Justice..."

The President states neither he nor the Attorney General authorized it.

Only thing anyone knows for sure is the ATF leadership has been less than forthcoming with Congressman asking questions.

Oh and that guns they let walk across the border have killed Border Patrol and DEA agents.

[AzNick]

4. Curious to know who the gun shop owner is?

I know a few, mostly in Mesa and Scottsdale.

Just curious to know.

Seriously, the shop by the Scottsdale Gun Club (not the SGC itself, but the shop next to it) has quite a battle rifles (not just AR-15s or old FALs, he's got some insane stuff you usually see in video games) and full-automatic Mac-10s amd Uzis.

I always wonder who buys these guns?!?

Not this Bullseye shooter here.

[rl6214]

5. As the head guy in charge, everything that goes on in my

place of business is my responsibility. I get the credit when things go well, I get the blame when things go wrong. This needs to be put on the head of the ATF and possibly Holder.

[one-eyed fat man]

6. One thing to note

The 13 May meeting the gunshop owner refers to is with an US ATTORNEY! This up the food chain from the ATF in the Justice Department. The US Attorney's boss is eventually Eric Holder. Is there still any wonder why Justice has been stonewalling Grassley and Issa?

Justice claims they are "investigating" the ATF. The ATF's role in this is already pretty clear. The question is is how much the DOJ knew, when they knew it and who approved ATF to run the operation to begin with.