Wayne LaPierre wants Attorney General Eric Holder to resign. | AP Photo NRA chief wants Holder resignation

PITTSBURGH—The National Rifle Association’s CEO Saturday said Attorney General Eric Holder should step down for allowing an operation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to occur on his watch that involved the sale of guns to suspicious customers with ties to Mexican drug cartels.

The ATF allegedly encouraged gun dealers to sell multiple firearms to known and suspected criminals as part of a broader sting operation to crack down on gunrunning. In a speech to thousands of gun activists here, NRA chief Wayne LaPierre said two assault rifles that the ATF “let walk” were found at the crime scene where a border patrol agent was gunned down in December.


“Operation Fast and Furious may have gotten one or perhaps two federal agents killed, and countless other innocent victims have been murdered with the illegal guns that our own government allowed into Mexico all to advance a political agenda,” he said.

The longtime NRA leader played clips of Obama saying neither he nor Holder authorized the operation.

“He’s the attorney general of the United States of America — the highest law-enforcement officer in our land,” LaPierre said. “Who’s in charge? If he didn’t know, then who’s minding the store? If Holder didn’t know, Holder has got to go.”

He called on Obama to order ATF and Justice Department officials to testify before Congress and disclose more details of their programs.

“Mr. President, it’s time to come clean: stop the stonewalling and stop the lies because the lying is getting people killed every day,” LaPierre said. “Our government has been willing to let people die to advance their assault on the Second Amendment. Our southern border proves it.”

Justice Department spokesman Matt Miller responded in a Saturday statement to POLITICO.

“Fighting criminal activity along the Southwest Border — including the illegal trafficking of guns to Mexico — has been a priority of this administration and this Department of Justice,” Miller said. “The mission of ATF and other law enforcement agencies is to stop the flow of illegal weapons and drugs across the border — and it will continue to be. The attorney general takes seriously the concerns that have been raised, and that’s why he has asked the inspector general to get to the bottom of it. He has also made it clear to the law enforcement agencies and prosecutors working along the Southwest Border that no one in the Department should allow guns to illegally cross the border into Mexico.”

LaPierre and other speakers at the NRA annual meeting attacked the Obama administration for using violence in Mexico as a justification to call for cracking down on certain kinds of gun sales. He also faulted Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano for saying that the border is safe.

“When Obama and Holder and Clinton blame American gun owners for Mexican drug crime, even as our own government is running guns south, that is politics at its most cynical and most despicable,” he said. “When ATF authorizes and watches thousands of guns walk across the border and fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartels, that’s not just bizarre law enforcement, its government-sanctioned gun running. When the administration stonewalls congressional investigations, that’s a conspiracy to cover up the truth.”

The Justice Department has invited the NRA to participate in discussions about gun issues, but the NRA has refused on the grounds that the administration’s goal is to push more firearms restrictions.

“We have invited the NRA to join the other stakeholders from across the spectrum who are already working with us to find common sense solutions to keep guns out of the hands of people who are not legally allowed to possess them,” Miller said in his statement. “While they have yet to come to the table with any productive suggestions…we hope they will reconsider.”

In a 40-minute presentation, LaPierre also vocally criticized the news media for not covering the allegations against the ATF. He said “it proves they’re cowards.”

“They care about sensational events that capture national attention and drive their agenda, like Columbine, Virginia Tech, Fort Hood and Tucson,” he said. “The media wastes no time in turning deranged monsters into celebrities, even though that’s the last thing the media should do.”

“The media and the political elites want us to believe that if we just pass another law or two we’ll all be safer, but it’s a lie. If we could legislate evil out of people’s hearts, we would have done it long ago,” he added. “And when they use tragedy to push for a ban of this firearm or that magazine or shut down lawful gun shows, it’s a fraud. Their laws don’t work. Their lies don’t ring true.”

LaPierre said the federal government has failed to protect the people.

“They can’t even pass a budget, let alone keep an air traffic controller awake at night,” he said.