Feds SIlent on how Felons bought Guns in 'Fast and Furious'

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In the latest chapter of the gunrunning scandal known as Operation Fast and Furious, federal officials won't say how two suspects obtained more than 360 weapons despite criminal records that should have prevented them from buying even one gun.

Under current federal law, people with felony convictions are not permitted to buy weapons, and those with felony arrests are typically flagged while the FBI conducts a thorough background check.

Suspected ‘Straw Buyers’ Helped Traffic Guns From Arizona to Mexico, Say Officials

ATF’s failed Operation Fast and Furious allowed straw buyers, or those who legally purchased guns and illegally sell them to a third party, to walk guns into Mexico. Here are some of the suspected buyers who bought hundreds of guns while under surveillance by the ATF.

However, according to court records reviewed by Fox News, two of the 20 defendants indicted in the Fast and Furious investigation have felony convictions and criminal backgrounds that experts say, at the very least, should have delayed them buying a single firearm. Instead, the duo bought dozens of guns on multiple occasions while federal officials watched on closed-circuit cameras.

Congressional and law-enforcement sources say the situation suggests the FBI, which operates the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, knowingly allowed the purchases to go forward after consulting with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which initiated Operation Fast and Furious.

Under the failed anti-gun trafficking program, straw buyers -- those who legally purchase guns and illegally sell them to a third party -- were allowed to buy guns, many of which were sold to Mexican drug cartel members and subsequently lost. Related to the case, the U.S. government in May charged Manuel Osorio-Arellanes with killing Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry last year using a gun purchased through the program.

Court documents show the breakdown involves suspects Jacob Wayne Chambers, 21, and Sean Christopher Stewart, 28, both of Phoenix. Police arrested Chambers for felony burglary and trafficking stolen property in 2008, a year before he began buying more than 70 guns that ended up in the hands of the Sinaloa cartel. Stewart pled guilty to resisting arrest and criminal damage in 2001 and was arrested on drug charges in 2010. He was also charged with violating an order of protection and a local municipal court issued a warrant for his arrest. Stewart purchased 290 weapons.

"You cannot sanction the violation of federal law by enabling or co-enabling prohibited persons, which includes felony convictions, from purchasing firearms," said Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., a former federal prosecutor and a member of the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee, which is investigating the botched ATF operation. Gowdy said he would discuss the apparent violation with committee chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.

When asked about the breakdown, Stephen Fischer, a spokesman for the NICS System, said the FBI had no comment. However, an ATF agent who worked on the Fast and Furious investigation, told Fox News that NICS officials called the ATF in Phoenix whenever their suspects tried to buy a gun. That conversation typically led to a green light for the buyers, when it should have stopped them.

The apparent corruption of the system concerns Gowdy. "It is unconscionable and goes beyond just being a terribly ill-conceived investigation to bordering, if not crossing, into criminal activity," he said.

The investigation into why these men were able to purchase weapons and this sting operation gone wrong continues on Tuesday. The House Oversight Committee will hold a third hearing, focusing on what was happening on the other side of the border in Mexico.

The former and current ATF attachés to Mexico will testify that their agency never informed them of this operation.

Issa and his colleagues will also have their first opportunity to question ATF supervisors who have defended Operation Fast and Furious and the Justice Department's decisions to committee investigators.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/07/25/feds-refuse-to-explain-why-proper-background-checks-werent-conducted-on-fast/#ixzz1TYwKsX9t

It's worse than that:

People tried to bury this in the Politics forum so you might not have seen it:

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt169388.html

Thanks. I haven't been able to keep up recently.

No problem, and I think this is really scary.

As far as I'm concerned, those who have been convicted of felonies and have served their sentence has just as much of a right to buy and own firearms as anyone else. The U.S. Constitution guarantees that right. However, what concerns me is in this case is the selective application of laws and policies in order to promote criminal activity by the same government that forbids felons from purchasing firearms. What even concerns me even more is the lack of arrests or even basic accountability regarding this matter and many more.

The United States of America is no longer a nation of laws. People no longer have any effective guarantee of their rights in this country. The sad part about this is the fact that most people are willing to put up with this without the slightest bit of resistance. By resistance, I don't mean voting or attending protest meetings. I'm talking about direct action. Direct action does not have to be violent. It only has to disrupt the unlawful actions of the government and its agents. The government knows full well that the people do not support this type of misbehavior, yet continues the same behavior. When people are willing to take action then there will be hope for a positive change in this country.

I wonder if they bought them one piece at a time, as I don't think they restrict the sale of gun parts.

The sale of most individual gun parts are not restricted anymore than ammo but prohibited people will still get in trouble for having them. However, there is always one central piece that requires a background check to purchase even if it's not a complete gun. To bypass that law you would need the means to fabricate your own parts and for most models that would require machinery and metalworking skills. In most states you can manufacture your own guns that are legal under all federal and local laws (or certain prohibited items if your ATF paperwork is approved) for personal use unless if you pay an excise tax in order to make it legally transferable.

But why go through all the trouble setting up a small secret factory in Mexico when the ATF, State Department, various central American groups, and Russian black market dealers are keeping them supplied with bigger volumes and better stuff than they can get from a US gun store? Why try to smuggle a few semi-auto AKs and a few cases of ammunition in a trunk or backpacks when you can often get shipping crate past corrupt port officials and civilian cargo plane loads of the real military hardware under the radar system for a fraction of the price?

It's looking more and more like this was deliberate on the part of the DoJ in order to provide Obama with some political ammo for new gun regulations.

entirely possible. Of course I saw a documentary about how FBI told border patrol to let a big payload of crystal meth in the US, but this was during the Bush Administration. The DOJ has its own agenda regardless who is in power.
If you do alot of digging you will find that many of our persistant crime problems have been helped along over the past 30 years. This is nothing new, just got public attention thats all.

i own a limousine company and i deal with the dot,background checks and what not.criminal record data bases are not absolute.courts report criminal historys to the state data bases.the state you live in only has a persons criminal history within that state.some performing a cori which means criminal offense record investigation.you can investigate other states but this costs more money and takes more time.the springfield,ma taxi commision runs all taxi liscense applicants not only through national data bases but also interpoll.a wanted member of the irish republican army was captured because he aplied for a taxi liscense in springfield.holyoke ,ma only does a 3 year in state cori.so both springfield and holyoke massachusetts taxi comisions will deny a permit to all convicted felons,its just that springfield does a more in depth investigations.i personaly know felons who drive cab in holyoke,the record was not found by the investigation done.so the point is if the atf didnt want to find there convictions found the atf can minipulate the cori so unwanted info doesnt surface

There is enough supporting evidence to show that the Feds knew these people had criminal records and stopped law enforcement from picking these guys up.