Monday, September 12, 2011

Gun Runner in Indiana?




Click to enlarge

Did Operation Gun Runner have an Indiana component? Maybe it did. Obviously the mainstream media doesn't like reporting on this story very much. This blog has been covering Gun Runner and its legacy Fast and Furious for months and almost all main stream media information has come from three sources; the LA Times, Foxnews, and oddly CBS. There is a lawyer in Evansville, Indiana who represents a gun store owner who has a interesting story to tell and he has furnished correspondence with the ATF to back up his story. The above letter indicates that his client cooperated with the ATF where gun purchasers could not pass the NCIC background check but were allowed to buy guns at the behest of the ATF. The complete correspondence can be viewed here. The upshot of the correspondence is the gun shop owner was notified by the ATF that more than ten guns he had sold were involved in crimes within three years of sale and he would be required to complete additional paper work. His lawyer informed the ATF about his cooperation and the order was rescinded. From
attorney Brent R. Weil of Kightlinger and Gray, LLP:
"Specifically, my client participated with and cooperated in certain law enforcement operations during 2009/2010 at the behest of ATFE enforcement officers from the Evansville, Indiana office (Agent Kevin Whittaker) and in the course of doing so, followed their instructions regarding the completion of certain transactions and the delivery of firearms to purchasers who did not clear the standard NICS [National Instant Check System] background check and were suspected of being involved in the purchase and transportation of handguns out of state despite passing NICS’s background checks."
Eventually the ATF rescinded its original order and in a voicemail from Brenda Bennett, identifying herself as “Chief of the National Tracing Center.”
"I have verified the information in the letter. I talked to law enforcement and they confirmed what he had to say. Therefore, he is being removed from the demand list."
This case differs from Operation Fast and Furious in two respects. The purchasers were not Hispanic but blacks and caucasians and the gun store owner initiated the contact with the ATF. One hesitates to call every suspicious happenstance a crime. One would like to think this is just the present administration's well known ineptitude but it would be nice if someone in the media would ask the ATF to explain its behavior. It would be odd to think this is an isolated instance and one wonders how much more is yet to come.

No comments:

Post a Comment