Fast & Furious, the laughably described “failed sting operation” run by the bumbling ATF and Eric Holder’s Justice Department resulted in the deaths of dozens of Mexican nationals and US Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. That we know of. Now chicagotribune.com reports that Nadir Soofi, one of the shooters in the spectacular failure that was the attack on a Garland, Texas “draw Muhammad” cartoon contest, bought a Fast and Furious gun, too . . .

Five years before he was shot to death in the failed terrorist attack in Garland, Texas, Nadir Soofi walked into a suburban Phoenix gun shop to buy a 9-millimeter pistol. At the time, Lone Wolf Trading Co. was known among gun smugglers for selling illegal firearms. And with Soofi’s history of misdemeanor drug and assault charges, there was a chance his purchase might raise red flags in the federal screening process. Inside the store, he fudged some facts on the form required of would-be gun buyers.

Fudged? Translation: he lied on his 4473 form and got his gun.

It’s been a rough go for the NICS check system lately, no? There was Dylann Roof and his drug bust. And the involuntarily committed John Houser. Now this:

Soofi’s attempt to buy a gun caught the attention of authorities, who slapped a seven-day hold on the transaction, according to his Feb. 24, 2010, firearms transaction record, which was reviewed by the Los Angeles Times. Then, for reasons that remain unclear, the hold was lifted after 24 hours, and Soofi got the 9-millimeter.

So the ATF smelled a rat, but still let Soofi have the gun anyway. We already know that Justice doesn’t have time to prosecute anyone who lies on their 4473 background check form. So tell us again why we go through that particular security theater exercise again.

It’s almost as if the government isn’t capable of reliably maintaining and using a simple data base and background check system. That, or Soofi was deliberately allowed to buy the gun despite his criminal history as part of the feds’ “sting operation.” Which was it? You make the call. Neither reflects particularly well on anyone in the .gov’s Rube Goldberg regulatory apparatus.

The FBI so far has refused to release any details, including serial numbers, about the weapons used in Garland by Soofi and (Elton) Simpson. Senate investigators are now pressing law enforcement agencies for answers, raising the chilling possibility that a gun sold during the botched Fast and Furious operation ended up being used in a terrorist attack against Americans.

So we don’t know for sure if Soofi used the Fast & Furious gun he illegally bought during the Garland attack. But if he didn’t, why would the FBI be so slow to release the details of the firearms used? Don’t expect answers any time soon.

Asked recently for an update on the Garland shooting, FBI Director James B. Comey earlier this month declined to comment. “We’re still sorting that out,” he said. Officials at the Justice Department and the FBI declined to answer questions about whether the 9-millimeter pistol was one of the guns used in the Garland attack or seized at Soofi’s apartment. It remains unclear whether Soofi’s 2010 visit to Lone Wolf is a bizarre coincidence or a missed opportunity for federal agents to put Soofi on their radar years before his contacts with Islamic extremists brought him to their attention.

We can probably expect the same kind of responsiveness from our public servants here as those trying to get to the bottom of the IRS targeting scandal and Hillary Clinton’s emails have enjoyed. Same as it ever was.

[h/t lowhouse5]