On Monday, July 11, the Department of Justice issued a statement requesting that gun store owners in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas report multiple sales of semi-automatic rifles -- the weapon of choice for drug traffickers.
The National Rifle Association has indicated that it intends to appeal the policy. "[The] ATF and the administration lacks the statutory authority to do this and the NRA will file suit as soon as ATF sends the first demand letters," said the group's director, Chris Cox.
The controversy began back in March 2011, when the United States Department of Justice issued a directive to federal agents ordering them to halt and report any operation that involved trafficking weapons into Mexico. The instruction came as the details of "Fast and Furious" -- supposedly an ATF sting operation -- were revealed. Allegedly, the operation included the illegal transport of more than 2,000 U.S. guns over the U.S./Mexico border intended for cartel gunmen. At around the same time, evidence suggested that the gun used to kill U.S. Agent Jamie Zapata and injure his partner in a shootout in a nartel roadblock was purchased in a legal sale in Dallas, Texas.
A congressional investigation was mounted and the following details emerged: In a press conference on June 29, United States President Barack Obama characterized the operation as "inappropriate" and described it as a "colossal failure of leadership".
On July 4, the founder of Los Zetas cartel, Jesus Enrique Aguilar Rejon, aka "El Mamito", was captured and arrested for his suspected involvement in the death of Agent Jamie Zapata. The following day, the federal Secretaría de Seguridad Pública (SSP) released a video interview with Aguilar Rejon in which the suspect claimed that the cartel buys its weapons in the United States.
Only two days later, on July 6, 2011, Congressmen Darrell Issa and Charles Grassley sent a letter to U.S, Department of Justice head Eric Holder expressing conern that the operation may have also involved Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). "We have indications from various sources that some of the major smugglers who wanted to investigate the ATF and other agencies were known and could have been paid as informants," the Congressmen said in the letter, which CNNMexico obtained from the agency Notimex.
On July 11, the Department of Justice announced that it would request records regarding the sale of multiple semiautomatic rifles. "Federal, state and foreign have determined that certain types of semiautomatic rifles (...) are highly sought by drug trafficking organizations and frequently dangerous recovered at crime scenes violent near the southwest border," the statement, issued by the office of Assistant Attorney General, said.
On July 13, CNNMexico reported that of the 2,000+ U.S. firearms allegedly involved in operation "Fast and Furious", federal agents had recovered 363 in the United States and an additional 227 guns in Mexico, leaving 1,430 arms still missing.
