Arizona gun shop told ATF sting was dangerous

Federal agents and prosecutors last year encouraged Arizona gun dealers to sell firearms to buyers for Mexican cartels even after the store owners fretted that weapons might be used to kill Border Patrol agents, according to e-mails obtained by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.

Grassley, ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder that the e-mails refute earlier Justice Department denials. The e-mails were exchanged by a federal agent and an Arizona gun dealer last April and June.

In light of this new evidence, the Justice Departments claim that the ATF never knowingly sanctioned or allowed the sale of assault weapons to straw purchasers is simply not credible, Grassley wrote in the letter sent Wednesday.

The letter and e-mails were made public Thursday.

Justice Department officials in Washington, D.C., could not be reached late Thursday, and a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives declined to comment.

The controversy stems from Operation Fast and Furious, an Arizona investigation in which agents monitored weapons and buyers after suspicious sales in an effort to track guns to cartel members.

After U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in a December shootout near Nogales, Ariz., two AK-47s found at the scene were traced to Operation Fast and Furious. They had been purchased in Glendale 11 months earlier.

Federal authorities previously denied that gun-store owners were encouraged to continue selling firearms to cartel operatives, some of whom visited shops repeatedly, purchasing dozens of assault rifles.

The e-mails released by Grassley contradict those statements. In correspondence with an unidentified gun dealer last April, ATF Supervisor David Voth wrote:

I understand that the frequency with which some individuals under investigation by our office have been purchasing firearms from your business has caused concerns for you. . . . However, if it helps put you at ease, we are continually monitoring these suspects using a variety of investigative techniques which I cannot go into (in) detail.

The firearms vendor responded by asking for a letter to ensure that he would not face repercussions for selling dozens of weapons to a suspected criminal: I want to help ATF with its investigation, but not at the risk of agents safety because I have some very close friends that are U.S. Border Patrol agents in southern Arizona.

Terry was killed six months later in a firefight with suspected border bandits. No one has been charged in the slaying.

In the letter to Holder, Grassley said the Justice Departments depiction of Operation Fast and Furious is simply not credible.

He also rebuked the Justice Department for failing to provide records that he began seeking in February.

The U.S. Attorneys Office in Phoenix on Thursday issued a statement that did not address Grassleys criticisms or the e-mails. It said federal prosecutors are restricted from commenting about ongoing cases. It also said the Justice Department will respond to Senator Grassleys letter as appropriate, and this office will continue to enforce the federal firearms laws vigorously.

U.S. and Mexican justice authorities have complained for years that cartel bloodshed is fueled in part by the illegal flow of weapons, mostly AK-47s, purchased in the United States and smuggled unlawfully across the border.

Operation Fast and Furious culminated three months ago with 34 arrests and 700 gun seizures.

At the time, Bill Newell, special agent in charge for Arizona, insisted that no guns had been intentionally allowed to enter Mexico.

In addition to claiming the ATF allowed straw buys, agency whistleblowers and some critics also have alleged that agents knowingly allowed hundreds of firearms out of the country, hoping to track the weapons to cartel bosses in Mexico rather than to low-level players in the United States.

Justice Department and ATF officials previously discounted allegations that agents intentionally let weapons be smuggled into Mexico on their watch. Weapons linked to the Fast and Furious investigation entered Mexico, officials said, because the guns were purchased before suspects came under surveillance or because straw buyers managed to slip away while being monitored.

An investigation is being conducted by the Justice Departments Office of the Inspector General.

Fast and Furious was part of a larger ATF campaign, Project Gunrunner, launched in 2006 to combat the weapons trafficking.

An inspector generals report last year criticized the bureau for catching only straw buyers, or minnows.

Reports that hundreds of guns were allowed across the border in pursuit of bigger fish have generated outrage among some Mexican lawmakers and a demand for information from the governments Foreign Ministry.

Wagner also reports for The Arizona Republic.