Pubdate: Sat, 10 Dec 2011 Source: Union Leader (Manchester, NH) Copyright: 2011 The Union Leader Corp. Contact: http://www.theunionleader.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/761 Note: Out-of-state letters are seldom published. INSULT TO INJURY: FAST AND MORE FURIOUS Drug cartels were not the only ones the Obama administration tried to set up in its infamous "Fast and Furious" operation. Law-abiding gun shops were, too. In Fast and Furious, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives encouraged private gun dealers near the Mexican border to sell firearms to suspected drug dealers. The plan was to trace the weapons up the cartel chain-of-command and eventually bring down a major drug lord. But the ATF quickly lost track of thousands of guns. Two of them later wound up at the scene of a murder -- the victim a U.S. Border Patrol agent. CBS News reported on Wednesday that ATF officials intended to cite the very gun sales to drug dealers that the bureau facilitated when making a public case that the bureau should impose tougher controls on sales from 8,500 gun shops in the Southwest. It should be noted, as CBS News did, that gun dealers did not want to make these sales, and did so only at the request of the ATF. A law enforcement official told CBS News, "It's like ATF created or added to the problem so they could be the solution to it and pat themselves on the back." Stupidity, incompetence and deceit in the pursuit of bad policies. The Obama administration at work. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D