By Dave Workman | Senior Editor
Carefully avoiding the term “investigation,” the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General will “review” storefront “sting” operations mounted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in four cities, Inspector General Michael Horowitz has announced.
The cities are Milwaukee, Wis., Pensacola, Fla., Wichita, Kan., and St. Louis, Mo.
A fifth controversial operation in Gresham, Ore., that was exposed by the Portland Oregonian will not be part of the review.
Many in the gun rights community greeted the news with something of a yawn, since a congressional probe of Operation Fast and Furious resulted in no firings by the BATF, though some officials connected to the case retired, including former Acting Director Kenneth Melson, or resigned, including former U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke. Others in the BATF were reassigned and demoted.
Operations under review were either continued or began after the inception of the Monitored Case Program that was established in July 2011 after the Fast and Furious scandal broke, thanks largely to the work of Gun Rights Examiner David Codrea and independent blogger Mike Vanderboegh at Sipsey Street Irregulars. TGM predecessor Gun Week also covered the scandal extensively.
The BATF came under much criticism and scrutiny from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, chaired by California Republican Darrell Issa. That committee held several hearings on Fast and Furious, during which one agent, speaking under oath, described the gunrunning operation was “the perfect storm of idiocy.”
The Journal Sentinel’s investigation revealed that the ATF “used mentally disabled people to promote operations and then arrested them for their work; opened storefronts close to schools and churches, increasing arrest numbers and penalties; and attracted juveniles with free video games and alcohol.”
The Oregonian noted that the ATF’s Gresham operation “set up a smoke shop…near a middle school, using the store to make underworld buys of drugs and guns.” The newspaper reported yesterday that “Operation Kraken” resulted in 48 guilty pleas to state and federal charges and that ATF collected 80 firearms including ten that had been stolen and “others that had been illegally modified.”
However, public defenders in the Oregon prosecutions were harshly critical of the operation, the Oregonian reported. The newspaper quoted defense attorney Andrew Kohlmetz stating, about the defendants, “They are the low hanging fruit. They are people that want to please others. They have disabilities, drug addiction, low mental functioning.”
Federal public defender Steve Wax told the newspaper that while federal agents “may not have engaged in entrapping behavior,” it doesn’t mean society “should be supporting efforts by law enforcement to get people to commit crimes.”
The Journal Sentinel meanwhile quoted U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who had asked for Horowitz to investigate the sting operation in her state after the newspaper expose. She called the operation “totally inexcusable.”
