Feb. 25, 2009: Atty Gen. Eric Holder tells Congress that the new administration wants to reinstate the ban on assault weapons and says, “I think it will have a positive impact in Mexico at a minimum.”
March 26, 2009: Sect of State Hillary Clinton, speaking in Mexico, claims “90 percent” of guns used by drug cartels in Mexico come from the U.S.
April 16, 2009: At a press conference with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, President Obama also uses the 90 percent number. Pressed to provide any evidence of the 90 percent number, the Obama administration cannot provide any, and the nonpartisan group Fact Check.org finds the number incorrect.
September and October 2009: The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) begins “Operation Fast & Furious” in Arizona. Licensed firearms dealers in the U.S. are persuaded by BATFE to sell guns to fake purchasers representing drug and gun dealers. The purpose is to monitor the gun sales and find out what happens to the guns. But BATFE agents are always forbidden to interdict the guns and are ordered to stop surveillance. BATFE loses track of almost all of the guns, and thousands are allowed to “walk” into Mexico and elsewhere. Eventually, more than 2,000 guns end up in the hands of violent criminals. BATFE is overseen by Eric Holder.
Late 2009 and early 2010: Several BATFE officials begin to question when the Fast and Furious plan will end and what the purpose is. They do not receive good answers. Supposedly, the purpose was to trace the guns to drug kingpins, but the identity of these drug kingpins is well known already, and their involvement in crime is well-known already, so many mid-level officials find the strategy a waste of time, at best. Their jobs are threatened by higher-level BATFE officials if they question the strategy.
October 2010: The brother of the attorney general of Mexico is kidnapped and killed. F&F guns were used.
Dec. 14, 2010: Agent Brian Terry, a border patrol agent, is killed by Mexican criminals. The next day, F&F rifles are discovered at the scene of the crime. Close aides to Eric Holder are informed that F&F rifles were there.
December 2010 and early 2011: More than a dozen Justice Department whistle-blowers begin speaking with congressional investigators about the F&F case.
Feb. 15, 2011: ICE agent Jaime Zapata is killed, and one of the firearms is a F&F handgun.
March 30, 2011: Sarah and Jim Brady visit the White House to talk to President Obama about gun control. President Obama tells them he is pressing for more stringent gun control, and says, “we just have to go through a few processes, but under the radar.”
May 30, 2011: Holder testifies before Congress that he had just heard about F&F a few weeks earlier, but late evidence shows he is lying and that he and his aides had been receiving reports for more than a year.
June 30, 2011: At a House Oversight Committee hearing, anti-gun lobbies argue that F&F shows the need for more gun control.
July 11, 2011: The Obama administration announces new gun control restrictions aimed only at southern border states.
Sept. 8, 2011: Cleanupatf.org, a web site for BATFE agents opposed to the F&F program, asks: “Does anyone here actually buy Holder’s claim that he and the DOJ’s senior leadership were entirely ‘unaware’ of an operation that deliberately allowed thousands of assault rifles, fragmentation grenades and other military grade weaponry to cross an international border?…This is clear either an incredibly brazen cover up of Watergate significance, or Eric Holder is among the most incompetent attorney generals ever to disgrace the office.”
Sept. 20, 2011: Mexican officials say at least 200 Mexicans have been killed by weapons from the F&F program.
Oct. 18, 2011: The Senate votes 99-0 to bar any funds for F&F type operations by BATFE.
Nov. 8, 2011: Eric Holder testifies before Congress saying American gun control laws are not strong enough but denies any responsibility for F&F.
Dec. 7, 2011: CBS reports that memos show the intention of F&F was to push for more gun control.
Dec. 17, 2011: Sixty congressmen, two senators and two governors who have called on Holder to resign.
Dec. 17, 2011: Eric Holder insists opposition to his performance as Attorney General has nothing to do with F&F and the coverup but instead is motivated by racism and the fact that both he and President Obama are African-Americans.
So, to sum up, we have an administration that planned a fake operation to send thousands of guns to known criminals and at the same time planned to use this operation as a justification for limiting your Second Amendment rights.