Breitbart.com

Connect

Facebook

Twitter

RSS

Search

Global Navigation

Login

Register

Subscribe

Primary Navigation

Big
Hollywood

Big
Government

Big
Journalism

Big Peace

Breitbart
TV

Holder's Brainwashing Against Guns Foreshadowed Operation Fast and
Furious

Print Article Send a
Tip

by Mary Chastain 4
days ago post
a comment

Yesterday, Breitbart.com revealed exclusive video of then-U.S. Attorney Eric Holder
speaking to the Woman’s National Democratic Club, stating that he wanted to
“brainwash” people against gun ownership.

The video reveals Attorney General Holder’s early, consistent, and strident
enthusiasm for gun control legislation. He wanted schools to talk about anti-gun
propaganda “every day, every school, and every level."

Operation Fast and Furious -- in which Holder’s Department of Justice (DOJ)
smuggled guns illegally to Mexican drug cartels -- could finally have provided
Holder the material for that anti-gun curriculum.

On December 7, 2011, CBS News investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson (who
is the only one in the mainstream media faithfully reporting this story) shared documents proving that the motive behind Operation Fast
& Furious was to implement harsher gun regulations.

Ms. Attkisson reported that Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) officials
within the DOJ discussed using the illegal gun sales to justify “Demand Letter
3,” which would require some gun shops to report the sales of multiple rifles or
long guns.

Each new revelation pushes Operation Fast and Furious up the chain of command
and provides more evidence that it was to be used for more gun control.

Here’s a review of what we know.

ATF Agent John Dodson sat down with Ms. Attkisson on March 3, 2011. He told Ms.
Attkisson he had been assigned to Phoenix in 2010 and that he’d been involved in
Operation Fast and Furious every single day since he arrived.

Agent Dodson had been assured that the “gun walking” strategy had been
approved all the way up to the Department of Justice. That didn’t calm Agent
Dodson and others. There was so much opposition that an ATF supervisor sent out
an email that said, “Whether you care or not people of rank and authority at HQ
are paying close attention to this case…we are doing what they envisioned.”

A few weeks, later on March 25, Ms. Attkisson released another report based on information from
whistleblower Darren Gil, lead ATF official in Mexico at the time.  She
asked the most crucial question: who knew and how high up? She mentioned an
interview President Obama had given with Univision, in which he claimed he or
Mr. Holder had authorized it. However, Agent Gil’s interview contradicted
President Obama’s statement about Mr. Holder.

What is really interesting is that Agent Gil and his counterparts in Mexico
did not have any knowledge about Operation Fast and Furious--nor did those in
charge want Agent Gil or anyone else in Mexico to know. Ms. Attkisson reported,
“Gil says his supervisor at ATF’s Washington D.C. headquarters told him
point-blank the operation was approved even higher than ATF Director Kenneth
Melson,” right up to senior levels of DOJ.

Noting that bringing weapons illegally into Mexico could amount to an act of
war, Gil explained that by ATF agents in Mexico had been put in danger: "They're
leaving my guys out in Mexico alone, and they're not doing the right thing."

More damning evidence was presented at a congressional hearing in June 2011, at which
emails were revealed showing that Melson had been briefed weekly about Operation
Fast and Furious. He had also watched a live video stream of straw purchases in
Arizona gun shops intended for the operation. Other emails indicated that a
meeting had been held at DOJ consisting of senior officials from the FBI, DEA,
and ATF, as well as  U.S. Attorneys for all southwestern states, among
others.

As the investigation unfolded, the government kept trying to pin the blame on the
gun dealers, but the emails and testimony would not let them. The gun dealers
had been emailing the ATF throughout Operation Fast and Furious to air their
concerns and to say they were uncomfortable with their involvement. The ATF kept
telling them that they would not be blamed. That promise was not kept.

Now why would the government try to blame the gun dealers? Was it attempting
to create a pretext for more gun control laws?

Ms. Attkisson seemed to confirm that motive in her December 7 report. In his
follow-up article, Matthew Boyle at The Daily Caller recalled a quote from Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) at a November 15
press conference:

“The attitude that [Holder] took toward the young man who was killed …
was troubling,” Walsh said, during a Nov. 15 press conference, referring to
slain U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry [killed with weapons smuggled
during Operation Fast and Furious]. “And, then, there’s this undercurrent of
his call -- his advocacy -- for more gun control, a problem of our guns going
south of the border when our own government, led by him, was complicit in
that. He needs to be held accountable.”

Several leading Democrats continued to press for gun control. Sen. Dianne
Feinstein (D-CA) suggested the government use Fast & Furious as an example
of why there should be tighter gun control laws during the November 1, 2011
testimony of Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer. She blamed lax gun laws
for Fast & Furious, not the ATF. She would not explain to The Daily Caller
how more gun control laws would have prevented the ATF from allowing guns to
walk across the border.

Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) noticed that throughout the congressional hearings, it had
become more evident the whole point of Operation Fast and Furious had been gun
control. He reminded The Daily Caller that Mr. Holder had testified before the
Senate Judiciary Committee that if there had been better gun laws, the
operation’s tragic outcome would not have happened.

Yesterday, Mr. Boyle reached out to DOJ spokesperson Tracy
Schmaler for a comment on the video. She has not answered. He also asked the
White House for a comment on whether President Obama agrees with Mr. Holder
about the need to “brainwash” Americans about guns. They have not answered,
either, according to Mr. Boyle.

Mr. Boyle also reports how Operation Fast and Furious already has had an
affect on gun control laws. “Statistics collected from the program eventually
formed the backbone of that new long-gun reporting rule, which the
administration implemented after Fast and Furious became a national scandal,”
Mr. Boyle reports. “The rule was upheld in a January ruling from the U.S.
District Court for the District of Columbia.”

The Department of Justice still has to give the oversight committee chaired
by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) thousands of documents pertaining to Operation Fast
and Furious. Now, with Breitbart.com’s new video, it really makes one wonder
what Holder, DOJ, and Obama are hiding.

Comments

advertisement

Sign up for our newsletter

advertisement

Send A Tip

advertisement

Copyright © 2012 Breitbart

Search

EXPLORE BREITBART

Breitbart

Breitbart TV

Privacy
Policy

Big
Hollywood

Big
Government

Big
Journalism

Big
Peace

Connect

Facebook

Twitter

RSS

Send us a tip

SUBSCRIBE TO
THE BREITBART
NEWSLETTER