The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives is attempting to destroy firearms connected to the disastrous Operation Fast and Furious, but House Republicans are trying to stop them.
Under then-President Barack Obama’s Attorney General Eric Holder, the idea behind the 2010 ATF operation was to authorize the sale of firearms to alleged “straw buyers,” who would then be traced so that federal agents could apprehend gun traffickers and stop criminal activity in Mexico.
The outcomes were very different; more than a thousand of firearms went missing. According to Fox News, the scandal was discovered after two firearms purchased through the plan were discovered at the scene of the murder of a Border Patrol agent.
The Washington Times reported last week that the ATF informed Congress that the guns would be destroyed in a status update on their whereabouts.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has alerted Congress that it intends to destroy the guns it still possesses from the botched Fast and Furious operation, which saw the U.S. inadvertently arm Mexican cartels. https://t.co/TbdCICTwoG
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) December 7, 2022
According to the Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee website, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the committee’s top Republican, answered by declaring that the weapons shouldn’t be destroyed.
He was direct in a tweet, writing, “Preserve the evidence.”
🚨#BREAKING: The ATF notified @Jim_Jordan that it intends to destroy the firearms associated with the botched Operation Fast and Furious.
The scandal is still a matter of public concern.
Preserve the evidence. pic.twitter.com/n7mWsCrc3i
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) December 7, 2022
“Although the ATF apparently intends to forget its dangerous misconduct in Operation Fast and Furious, the scandal is still a matter of public concern. Given the potential for ongoing criminal and possible civil actions, it is not in the interest of justice for the ATF to destroy potential evidence associated with Operation Fast and Furious,” Jordan said in a letter to the ATF.
“Given the potential for ongoing criminal and possible civil actions, it is not in the interest of justice for the ATF to destroy potential evidence associated with Operation Fast and Furious. I request that you immediately take steps to preserve all evidence associated with Operation Fast and Furious and confirm in writing that you have done so,” wrote Jordan, who is set to lead the Judiciary Committee when the House reconvenes in January with a Republican majority.
The Department of Justice examination of the West Virginia storage facility where the firearms were kept revealed that “thousands of firearms, firearm parts, and ammunition had been stolen,” according to Fox News. This led the ATF to suggest destroying the firearms.
The audit revealed that Operation Fast and Furious firearms were kept outside of a vault when they should have been.
More on this story via The Western Journal:
“While these firearms were secured in shipping cases, the cases could be accessed by an individual using one of the ladders kept in the same area of the facility,” the inspector general’s report states.
The ATF agreed to destroy the guns after deciding no more prosecution from the operation will be conducted, the report states. CONTINUE READING…