Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives

Fast And Furious

DOJ: Issa's Move To Hold AG In Contempt 'Unprecedented'

Ryan J. Reilly | May 15, 2012, 6:16PM

Rep Darrell Issa (R-CA) confers with a staffer.

Rep. Darrell Issa's drive to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt is "unwarranted," "unprecedented" and "ill-advised," a top Justice Department official said in a letter to the California Republican, who is chair of the House Oversight Committee, on Tuesday.

Deputy Attorney General James Cole also wrote that the committee's "core questions" on the flawed gun trafficking operation known as Fast and Furious "have been answered."

Cole suggested that the lack of documents showing high-level discussions about the tactics used in Fast and Furious show the problem grew out of offices in Arizona and that top Obama administration were not aware that ATF agents were telling gun shop dealers to sell large quantities of weapons to individuals they suspected were "straw purchasers" for Mexican drug cartels.

Fast And Furious

Fast And Furious: GOP Moves Towards Holder Contempt Resolution

Ryan J. Reilly | April 27, 2012, 1:50PM

Attorney General Eric Holder

Led by House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), Republicans in the House are preparing a contempt resolution against Attorney General Eric Holder, alleging that the nation's top law enforcement official has obstructed a congressional investigation into a federal operation that allowed guns to flow to Mexican drug cartels.

A congressional source with knowledge of the contempt resolution confirmed to TPM that a draft does exist and said Republican leadership had been very supportive of the measure, which was first reported by CBS News. CBS said House Speaker John Boehner had given Issa the go-ahead to pursue the resolution, but a GOP leadership aide disputed that report and told TPM that "no decision" had been made.

Fast And Furious

It Wasn't Just The Government Giving Guns To Mexican Drug Cartels

Ryan J. Reilly | April 27, 2012, 12:57PM

Over 66 percent of guns recovered at crime scenes in Mexico that officials asked the U.S. government to trace were sourced to the United States, according to data released Thursday by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

Conservatives have asserted that ATF's botched Fast and Furious operation -- in which U.S. gun dealers were told to sell large numbers of weapons to individuals they believed were "straw purchasers" for Mexican drug cartels -- was launched by the Obama administration in an effort to justify gun control measures. But the trace data showed that the number of weapons traced to the U.S. peaked before he even took office.

Planned Parenthood

Wisconsin Planned Parenthood Bombing Draws Federal Probe, Quick Rebuke From Santorum

Nick R. Martin | April 2, 2012, 12:09PM

Updated: April 2, 2012, 3:57 PM

A small, homemade bomb exploded outside a Planned Parenthood office in Wisconsin on Sunday night, prompting a federal investigation and the swift condemnation of violence by a Republican presidential candidate ahead of the state's primary on Tuesday.

Fast And Furious

Emails Rebuff Republican Suggestion That Bush-Era 'Gun Walking' Was Always Coordinated With Mexico

Ryan J. Reilly | January 5, 2012, 7:03PM

Updated: Jan. 6, 10:43AM

At least twenty weapons that were allowed to "walk" during a Bush-era investigation aimed at combating gun trafficking were later recovered in Mexico, documents the Justice Department sent to congressional investigators on Thursday indicate.

Fast And Furious

Obama DOJ Makes It Easier For Legal 'Aliens' To Get Guns

Ryan J. Reilly | December 22, 2011, 3:09PM

President Barack Obama

In the midst of the Fast and Furious scandal, the Obama administration just made it easier for immigrants in the United States legally to purchase weapons from licensed firearms dealers.

Under the Gun Control Act (GCA), individuals are generally prohibited from transferring firearms to "any unlicensed person who they know or have reasonable cause to believe does not reside in the State in which the transferor resides."

Fast And Furious

Inspector's Probe Of Fast And Furious Likely Encompasses Bush-Era 'Gun Walking'

Ryan J. Reilly | December 16, 2011, 1:58PM

The Justice Department Inspector General's review of the flawed ATF program in which guns were allowed to "walk" across the Mexican border will include other investigations that used similar methods, according to the IG's semi-annual report to Congress.

Fast And Furious

Republicans Buy Into NRA's 'Fast And Furious' Gun Control Conspiracy Theory

Ryan J. Reilly | December 16, 2011, 11:35AM

Out of the sound and fury of Attorney General Eric Holder's day before the House last week one thing was clear: Republican members of Congress are latching onto the conspiracy theory that the Obama administration let guns "walk" into Mexico in order to erode Americans' second amendment rights.

Fast And Furious

Obama Has 'Full Confidence' In Eric Holder Ahead Of 'Fast And Furious' Hearing

Ryan J. Reilly | December 8, 2011, 1:05AM

While House Republicans gear up to grill Attorney General Eric Holder about what-he-knew-when about ATF's botched Operation Fast and Furious at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday, the White House is signaling they're standing by the nation's top law enforcement officer.

"As the President has made clear, he believes Eric Holder is an excellent Attorney General who has his full confidence," White House spokesman Eric Schultz said in a statement to TPM on Wednesday.

Fast And Furious

Emails Show DOJ Trusted ATF Denials Of Fast And Furious 'Gun Walking' Allegations

Ryan J. Reilly | December 5, 2011, 3:06PM

Attorney General Eric Holder testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee in a hearing examining the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms' botched gun-walking operation, Fast and Furious. November, 8, 2011.

It was early 2011. Reports that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had let guns "walk" across the border to Mexico were only just starting to emerge. Sen. Chuck Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote a letter to to the Justice Department on Jan. 27 asking if an assault rifle bought by a suspected "straw purchaser" during an ATF-authorized transaction with a firearms dealer was found at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

If contemporaneous emails sent by Justice Department officials are any indication, they didn't have any clue what Grassley was talking about. And when officials in the U.S. Attorney's office in Arizona and at ATF headquarters assured them gun walking wasn't going on, they took them at their word and adopted that false position as the official stance of the Justice Department.

Darrell Issa

Issa's Suggestion Of Folding ATF's Duties Into FBI Probably Isn't Going Anywhere

Ryan J. Reilly | December 5, 2011, 12:03PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) suggested Friday that the role of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives could be folded into the FBI in the wake of ATF's botched Fast and Furious operation.

Issa's House Oversight Committee has been investigating Fast and Furious, the operation which let guns flow across the border into Mexico in the course of an investigation aimed at stopping gun trafficking.

Fast And Furious

Ex U.S. Attorney Called Grassley's Staff 'Stooges For The Gun Lobby' For Fast And Furious Probe

Ryan J. Reilly | December 2, 2011, 3:48PM

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA)

A former U.S. Attorney who resigned in the wake of ATF's botched operation Fast and Furious called Sen. Chuck Grassley's staff "willing stooges for the Gun Lobby" when the Senator started investigating the issue in early 2011, according to emails DOJ sent up to congressional investigators and released to news organizations, including TPM, on Friday afternoon.

"I am so personally outraged by Senator Grassley's falsehoods," former Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke wrote in an email regarding the allegation that a weapon connected to the ATF operation was found at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. "It is one of the lowest acts I have ever seen in politics."

Eric Holder

Holder: Fast And Furious 'Not The Cause Of' U.S. Guns Flowing To Mexico (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | November 8, 2011, 11:50AM

Attorney General Eric Holder

In his opening statement before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Attorney General Eric Holder said that ATF's Fast and Furious operation was "a flawed response to, not the cause of, the flow of illegal guns from the United States into Mexico."

Holder said that "gun walking" was "unacceptable" and said Fast and Furious "was flawed in concept, as well as in execution."

Michael Mukasey

The Memo Bush AG Mukasey Got On ATF's 'Gun Walking'

Ryan J. Reilly | November 4, 2011, 1:20PM

Two days after former Attorney General Michael Mukasey took over as head of the Bush administration's Justice Department in 2007, he got a memo describing a failed effort by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to track weapons as they "walked" into Mexico.

TPM has obtained a copy of the memo, which was first reported on by Pete Yost of the Associated Press, which was turned over to the House Oversight Committee this week.

Militia movement

Fringe Militia Member Accused In Ricin Plot Called Right-Wing Blogger's Novel 'Far From Fantasy'

Ryan J. Reilly | November 4, 2011, 6:00AM

One of the elderly 'fringe militia' members arrested on Tuesday for allegedly plotting a ricin attack against U.S. citizens and federal employees was a frequent commenter on a right-wing blog and thought a novel written by the blogger that allegedly inspired his plot was likely to come true.

Former Alabama militia member turned "Sipsey Street Irregulars" blogger Mike Vanderboegh said in a post that he never corresponded with 73-year-old Frederick Thomas, the man the feds considered the ringleader of the group. But he did say he believed "Ahab" was Thomas' screen name that he used to leave comments on the website.

Fast And Furious

DOJ's Breuer: I Shouldn't Have Just Trusted ATF To Stop 'Gun Walking' (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | November 1, 2011, 11:55AM

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) questioned Justice Department official Lanny Breuer at a hearing on Tuesday about Attorney General Eric Holder's knowledge of ATF's flawed Operation Fast and Furious, the day after Breuer apologized for not connecting the "gun walking" tactics that took place during a Bush-era ATF operation to the more recent anti-gun trafficking operation.

Breuer said during his testimony that he trusted officials at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to make sure that agents weren't allowing guns to "walk" across the Mexican border, as they learned happened back in 2006 and 2007 during Operation Wide Receiver.

"At the time, I thought that dealing with the leadership of ATF was sufficient and reasonable, and frankly given the amount of work I do, at the time I thought that was the appropriate way of dealing with it," Breuer said. "I thought we had dealt with it by talking to the ATF leadership."

Justice Department

E-Mails Detail DOJ Concern Over ATF 'Gun Walking' Well Before 'Fast & Furious'

Ryan J. Reilly | October 31, 2011, 10:56PM

Chinese-made SKS rifle on counter at A & A Guns in Fairfax, Virginia.

A high-ranking Justice Department official was "stunned" when he learned in 2010 that agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) allowed weapons to "walk" across the Mexican border during the Bush administration, according to recently disclosed documents.

Documents show that Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein, a career federal prosecutor in a leadership position within the Obama DOJ's Criminal Division, and other officials worked to keep the attention of the press away from the Bush-era "gun walking" tactics long before the problems with Operation Fast and Furious went public.

"Been thinking more about 'Wide Receiver I'," Weinstein wrote in an email on April 12, 2010. "ATF HQ [headquarters] should/will be embarrassed that they let this many guys walk -- I'm stunned, based on what we've had to do to make sure not even a single operable weapon walked in [undercover] operations I've been involved in planning -- and there will be press about that."

ATF

Emails: Bush-Era Embassy, Prosecutor's Office Approved ATF 'Gun Walking' Tactic

Ryan J. Reilly | October 14, 2011, 5:00PM

As House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) continues to try to pin the flawed "gun walking" tactic employed in Operation Fast and Furious on the Obama administration, it's becoming increasingly clear that problems with ATF's Phoenix division date back at least into the Bush era.

TPM has obtained the documents relating to another Bush-era ATF operation (on top of Operation Wide Receiver) which deployed the "gun walking" tactic. The development was first reported by Pete Yost of the Associated Press.

Darrell Issa

Despite Denials, Sources Say Darrell Issa Was Briefed On Details Of ATF's 'Fast And Furious'

Ryan J. Reilly | October 14, 2011, 9:15AM

House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) said this week that he was "never" briefed about what was going on in Operation Fast and Furious and that ATF agents who ran an April 2010 briefing he attended "never mentioned 'Fast and Furious' by name."

That contradicts contemporaneous documents prepared for that meeting as well as the claims of officials familiar with the briefing, who say Fast and Furious was, in fact, discussed in detail. Still, Issa's office says staffers at the meeting don't recall Fast and Furious coming up and say they weren't given the briefing materials.

Fast And Furious

DOJ: Issa's 'Recycled' Charges That Holder Lied About ATF's Fast And Furious Are 'Baseless'

Ryan J. Reilly | October 10, 2011, 3:19PM

The back-and-forth between House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa and Attorney General Eric Holder over Holder's knowledge of ATF's controversial Fast and Furious program continued Monday, with a Justice Department spokeswoman accusing Issa of "partisan showboating."

"These recycled allegations continue to be baseless, no matter how many times they are repeated," DOJ spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler told TPM in an email.

"From the start, the Attorney General took the concerns about certain tactics used in the Fast and Furious operation seriously, which is why the first steps he took were to ask the Inspector General to investigate the matter and to ensure agents and prosecutors knew such conduct violated Department of Justice policy and would not be tolerated," Schmaler said.

Fast And Furious

Issa To Holder: Time 'To Come Clean' About Fast And Furious

Ryan J. Reilly | October 10, 2011, 1:50PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) sent a letter firing back at Attorney General Eric Holder, who had accused House Republicans of engaging in "political posturing" instead of trying to actually get to the bottom of what went wrong in ATF's Fast and Furious scandal.

"Incredibly, in your letter from Friday you now claim that you were unaware of Fast and Furious because your staff failed to inform you of information contained in memos that were specifically addressed to you," Issa wrote.

"At best, this indicates negligence and incompetence in your duties as Attorney General. At worst, it places your credibility into serious doubt," he continued.

Fast And Furious

Eric Holder Bashes GOP's 'Political Posturing' In ATF Fast And Furious Scandal

Ryan J. Reilly | October 7, 2011, 5:23PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Attorney General Eric Holder

Attorney General Eric Holder said in a letter to Congress on Friday that the accusation that he lied about his knowledge of ATF's Fast and Furious program is irresponsible "political posturing."

Holder wrote that he could not "sit idly by" as Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) "suggests, as happened this week, that law enforcement and government employees who devote their lives to protecting our citizens be considered 'accessories to murder.'"

ATF

ATF Didn't Consult White House On Emergency Request For Controversial Gun Rule

Ryan J. Reilly | October 6, 2011, 6:00AM

Here's some news for all the NRA members convinced that ATF's rifle reporting requirement in four border states is a diabolical plot by the Obama administration to crack down on the Second Amendment. ATF didn't consult the White House before they published an emergency request for a proposed rule requiring gun dealers in four border states to report bulk sales of semi-automatic weapons in the Federal Register.

Eric Holder

DOJ: Holder Was 'Consistent And Truthful' About Fast And Furious

Ryan J. Reilly | October 4, 2011, 6:30PM

Attorney General Eric Holder

Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler issued this statement about the Republican allegation that Attorney General Eric Holder lied to Congress about his knowledge of the controversial ATF program known as Fast and Furious:

Darrell Issa

Issa: Obama DOJ's Blame Bush Strategy In ATF Scandal 'Reeks Of Desperation'

Ryan J. Reilly | October 4, 2011, 5:50PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) is trying to take the revelation that the Bush administration had a "gun walking" problem of its very own in stride.

"The committee has received some documents from the Justice Department about Operation Wide Receiver but Justice officials still have not made clear to committee investigators what did and did not take place in this operation," spokeswoman Becca Glover Watkins said in a statement to TPM.

Eric Holder

'Operation Wide Receiver': The Bush Administration Had Its Very Own ATF 'Gun Walking' Scandal

Ryan J. Reilly | October 4, 2011, 3:50PM

Fmr. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and President George W. Bush

Updated: Oct. 4, 6:45PM

Know how Republicans have been blaming the Obama administration for a local ATF office's decision to let thousands of guns "walk" into Mexico? Turns out the Bush administration had a "gun walking" program of their very own.

Republicans on Tuesday called for a special prosecutor to look into whether Attorney General Eric Holder perjured himself during testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on ATF's Fast and Furious scandal.

Holder had testified on May 3 that he was "not sure of the exact date, but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks."

Documents have now emerged showing that the "Fast and Furious" program came up in the course of a couple of Holder's extensive weekly reports on ongoing developments in the Justice Department and its components in July 2010 and again in October 2010.

Brady Center

Brady Center Report: Manufacturers 'Lost' At Least 16,000 Guns Over The Past Two Years

David Taintor | September 5, 2011, 11:13AM

Glock 9mm handgun and its ammunition.

Every day over the past two and a half years, 18 guns have gone missing from firearms manufactures without any record of being sold, according to a report from the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. That adds up to 16,485 "missing" guns since 2009.

The report comes after a January 2011 report from the Brady Center that showed gun retail dealers "lost" more than 62,000 guns since 2008. The Brady Center cites data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in its analysis.

ATF

Two Top Officials Resign Over ATF's Operation Fast And Furious

Ryan J. Reilly | August 30, 2011, 3:21PM

Ken Melson and Dennis Burke

The acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms And Explosives (ATF) and the U.S. Attorney for Arizona have resigned their posts in the wake of a scandal involving a program aimed at stopping gun trafficking on the Mexican border. ATF Director Ken Melson and U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke announced their resignations on Tuesday.

An Obama administration official told TPM that the White House and Justice Department were not prejudging the investigations of Operation Fast and Furious being conducted by DOJ's Inspector General and the House Oversight Committee. But the official said that both ATF and the federal prosecutor's office in Arizona had critical public safety missions they needed to carry out and that it was important for proper leadership to be in place.

ATF

ATF Promotes Agents Who Ran Program Which Let Guns 'Walk' To Drug Cartels

Ryan J. Reilly | August 16, 2011, 12:25PM

Acting ATF Head, Ken Melson

Three supervisors who ran Operation Fast and Furious, the program which allowed at least 2,000 semiautomatic weapons to be illegally trafficked over the border into Mexico, have been promoted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

ATF

Report: ATF Officials Left Colleagues In Mexico Out Of The Loop On 'Fast And Furious'

Ryan J. Reilly | July 26, 2011, 12:01AM

Acting ATF Head, Ken Melson

Ahead of another House Oversight Committee hearing on ATF's "Fast and Furious" controversy on Tuesday, the Republican and Democratic staffs of the House Oversight Committee have issued dueling reports on the latest information uncovered by congressional investigators.

Fast And Furious

Dem Response To ATF Scandal: Hey, Maybe We Should Make Gun Trafficking Illegal

Ryan J. Reilly | July 18, 2011, 3:50PM

Rep. Darrell E. Issa (D-CA) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD)

Everyone seems pretty upset right now with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) over their botched "Fast and Furious" program. Agents allegedly watched as suspected "straw purchasers" bought weapons they intended to give to Mexican drug cartels. So Democrats have a crazy idea: maybe buying weapons for drug cartels should be, you know, illegal.

Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives

To Combat Gun Trafficking, ATF Ask Dealers To Report Sales Of Semi-Automatic Rifles

Ryan J. Reilly | July 11, 2011, 3:27PM

Amid ongoing probes of the ATF Fast and Furious scandal, the Obama administration announced Monday that they are asking gun dealers in four border states to report when they sell two or more semi-automatic weapons to an individual in a period of five business days.

The rule, enforced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), is meant to slow the trafficking of weapons across the Southern border and into the hands of Mexican drug cartels.

Ken Melson

ATF Director 'Sick To His Stomach' When He Learned Details Of Fast And Furious

Susan Crabtree | July 6, 2011, 12:17PM

Acting ATF Head, Ken Melson

Ken Melson, the embattled acting head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), told Congressional investigators that he became "sick to his stomach" after learning details of the troubled anti-gun-trafficking program called Fast and Furious.

Melson on Tuesday testified for the first time before investigators for the House Oversight and Government Reform and Senate Judiciary Committees, which have been pummeling the administration with questions about controversial tactics to stop the flow of weapons from the U.S. to Mexican drug cartels. Melson, who appeared in a private meeting before the panel with his own personal counsel rather than Justice Department attorneys, said DOJ officials had prevented him from cooperating with Congress' investigations thus far.

Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart: ATF Director Was 'Tivoing' Fast And Furious Plan (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | June 22, 2011, 2:45PM

The Fast and Furious scandal at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has reached the Daily Show stage.

On his program last night, Jon Stewart mocked the ATF plan, in which the agency asked gun dealers to allow sales of weapons to individuals they suspected were straw purchasers so they could track where the weapons ended up.

"If this was the plan that they went with, what plan did we reject?" Stewart asked.

ATF

Darrell Issa Poised To Get First Win In ATF Fast And Furious Scandal

Ryan J. Reilly | June 20, 2011, 5:45AM

Acting ATF Head, Ken Melson

Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) seems poised to collect his first scalp. The Obama administration wants to oust Ken Melson as head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) over the troubled anti-gun-trafficking program called Fast and Furious, the Wall Street Journal reported late Friday.

Issa's committee released an email last week that showed that as deputy director of the agency, Melson was closely monitoring the Fast and Furious operation -- an effort to stop the flow of weapons from the U.S. to Mexican drug cartels. One email from ATF described a request Melson made for a web link so he could watch from hidden cameras in the gun stores that were cooperating with the operation.

ATF

Issa Report: ATF Agents In 'State Of Panic' Over Gunrunner Program

Ryan J. Reilly | June 15, 2011, 11:32AM

Rep. Darrell E. Issa (D-CA) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD)

The Obama administration handed over documents on a controversial anti-gunrunning program run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) just ahead of a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing Wednesday chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA).

Darrell Issa

Cummings: Issa Staff Released Document Under Seal In ATF Gunrunner Probe

Ryan J. Reilly | June 14, 2011, 5:45AM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

Staffers working for House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) improperly disclosed information about a criminal investigation being run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) which could have compromised ongoing criminal proceedings, according to a letter House Oversight Ranking Member Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) sent to Issa on Monday.

Justice Department officials met with committee staffers on May 5 and told them the committee had released a document filed under seal, Cummings wrote. A federal district court judge had issued an order prohibiting the public release of a particular document, according to Cummings' letter.

Project Gunrunner

Issa's Office: Obama Admin Wouldn't Answer Questions On 'Role In Arming Deadly Drug Cartels'

Ryan J. Reilly | April 29, 2011, 12:55PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and President Barack Obama (D)

As congressional investigators ramp up their investigation into Project Gunrunner, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) is ramping up his rhetoric.

ATF

Amid Probe Of 'Project Gunrunner,' Obama Seeks Comments On ATF's Anti-Gun Trafficking Rule

Ryan J. Reilly | April 28, 2011, 3:55PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and President Barack Obama (D)

As House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) probes Project Gunrunner -- the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) effort aimed at combating gun trafficking on the Mexican border that went awry -- the Obama administration is seeking another round of comments on a controversial proposal to make gun dealers in four border states report sales of multiple rifles.

ATF

Feds Indict Mayor, Police Chief Of Border Town As ATF 'Gunrunner' Program Faces Heat

Ryan J. Reilly and Melissa Jeltsen | March 15, 2011, 9:45AM

Eleven people -- including the mayor, police chief and a town councilman in Columbus, N.M. -- have been indicted by the feds for alleged involvement in an international gun running scheme that may have fueled violence south of the border.

Ten out of the eleven defendants charged in the trafficking ring will be arraigned Tuesday on charges of conspiracy, smuggling and making false statements in connection with firearms purchases, according to federal officials.

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