Project Gunrunner
Encyclopedia
Project Gunrunner is an operation of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
(ATF) intended to stem the flow of firearms into Mexico
, in an attempt to deprive the Mexican drug cartels of weapons.
In early 2011, the operation became controversial when it was revealed that Operation Fast and Furious
and other probes under Project Gunrunner had allowed guns to "walk" into the hands of Mexican drug cartels
since as early as 2006.
’s broader Southwest Border Initiative, which seeks to reduce cross-border drug and firearms trafficking and the high level of violence associated with these activities on both sides of the border.
ATF has determined that the Mexican cartels have become the leading gun trafficking organizations operating in the southwest U.S. and is working in collaboration with other agencies and the Government of Mexico to expand the eTrace
firearm tracing software system. eTrace
provides web based access to ATF’s Firearms Tracing System to allow law enforcement both domestically and internationally the ability to trace firearms encountered in connection with a criminal investigation to the first recorded purchaser - who may have innocently sold the gun years ago. eTrace
allows law enforcement to access their trace results directly (name and address of first purchaser) and offers the ability to generate statistical reports to analyze their trace data to estimate firearms trafficking trends or patterns.
ATF announced a goal to deploy eTrace
software to all thirty-one states within the Republic of Mexico. As part of eTrace
expansion, ATF continues to provide training to Mexican and Central American countries to ensure that the technology is utilized to a greater extent. Colombia
and Mexico
were provided with their own in-country tracing centers with full access to ATF firearm registration records. In Colombia, a joint ATF-CNP Center for Anti-Explosives Information and Firearms Tracing (CIARA) opened on December 6, 2006. In Mexico, The National Center for Information, Analysis and Planning in order to Fight Crime (CENAPI) was established in 2003. ATF states these are models for planned future tracing centers throughout Central and South America and the Caribbean Basin. In December, 2009, ATF announced deployment of a Spanish version of eTrace
to Mexico, Guatemala and Costa Rica. A planned second phase will release the software to all Spanish-speaking countries with agreements with ATF. In June 2011 Congress opened an investigation into project gunrunner against the ATF, as some ATF agents have come forward stating that top heads in ATF and the Department of Justice instructed the agents to encourage gun stores in the U.S. to sell assault-style weapons to Mexican firearm traffickers.
In 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
provided $40 million to state and local law enforcement agencies. This money was primarily slated for competitive grants to provide assistance and equipment to local law enforcement along the southern border; and, in high-intensity drug trafficking areas, to combat criminal narcotics activity stemmming from the southern border. $10 million of the money was to be transferred to the BATF for Project Gunrunner to hire personnel and open facilities in 6 new locations. The use of "stimulus" money to fund Project Gunrunner is controversial, given the ATF Phoenix Field Division's reported initiative of allowing known criminals purchase guns in an effort to gain intelligence on the cartels (Operation Fast and Furious
).
software:
Mexico, Colombia, Suriname, Tobago, Guyana, Canada, Germany, Bahama, Jamaica, Dominican Republic,
Barbados, Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, Aruba, Curacao, Dominica, Grenada, St. Vincent, Grenadines, St. Lucia,
Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, St. Kitts, Nevis, Britain, Australia, Japan, and Belgium.
These countries have access to American gun owner identities and information (first purchaser only) as a result of traces of recovered firearms contained in the database.
In GAO Report 09-709, ATF reports the National Tracing Center, “conducts the gun traces, and returns information on their findings to the submitting party”.
ATF has commissioned approximately 100 special agents and 25 industry operations investigators to the initiative, and is increasing its intelligence activities with other EPIC law enforcement partners stationed at the border, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Texas Department of Public Safety. ATF also works closely with these agencies’ task forces which operate along the Southwest border, sharing intelligence, and conducting joint investigations.
According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), during FY 2007 and 2008, ATF conducted twelve eTrace
training sessions for Mexican police (over 961 Mexican police officers) in several Mexican cities, including the same cities where corrupt police were disarmed and arrested: Mexico City, Tijuana, Nuevo Laredo, and Matamoros. Despite the GAO
report, ATF now claims (October 2010) only about 20 people have been trained to use eTrace
in Mexico. This discrepancy has not been explained. With the assistance of ATF’s Mexico City office and the Narcotics Affairs Section of the U.S. Department of State, ATF anticipates conducting numerous additional courses in these subject areas in 2009. According to Mexican government officials, corruption pervades all levels of Mexican law enforcement—federal, state, and local.
ATF reported they analyzed firearms seizures in Mexico from FY 2005-07 and identified the following weapons most commonly used by drug traffickers. However this conclusion is seriously flawed and not supported by ATF statistics, which only includes guns successfully traced and these are not necessarily connected to drug traffickers. The number of trace requests from Mexico has increased since FY 2006, but most seized guns in Mexico have not been traced.
Project Gunrunner has a stated official objective to stop the sale and export of guns from the United States into Mexico in order to deny Mexican drug cartels the firearms considered "tools of the trade". However, since 2006 under Operation Fast and Furious
, Operation Wide Receiver and others, it did the opposite by permitting, encouraging and facilitating 'straw purchase
' firearm sales to traffickers, and allowing the guns to 'walk' and be transported to Mexico. This has resulted in the death of US border agent Brian Terry and considerable controversy.
Senator Charles E. Grassley (R
-IA) initiated an investigation with a letter to ATF
on 27 January 2011, and again on 31 January 2011. ATF responded through the Department of Justice
by denying all allegations. Senator Grassley responded with specific documentation supporting the allegations in letters to U.S. Attorney General Holder on 9 Feb 2011 and 16 Feb 2011. ATF refused to answer specific questions in a formal briefing to Senator Grassley on 10 Feb 2011.
Indictments filed in federal court, documentation obtained by Senator Grassley, and statements of ATF agents obtained by Senator Grassley and CBS News
, show that the ATF Phoenix Field Division allowed and facilitated the sale of over 2,500 firearms (AK-47 rifles, FN 5.7mm pistols, AK-47 pistols, and .50 caliber rifles) in 'straw man purchases
' destined for Mexico. According to ATF agents, Mexican officials were not notified, and ATF agents operating in Mexico were instructed not to alert Mexican authorities about the operation. Some ATF agents and supervisors strongly objected, and gun dealers (who were cooperating with ATF) protested the sales, but were asked by ATF to complete the transactions to expose the supply chain and gather intelligence. However, there are accusations that the ATF was attempting to boost statistics to 'prove' that American guns are arming the Mexican drug cartels and to further budget and political objectives. It has been established that this operation violated long-established ATF policies and practices and that it is not a recognized investigative technique.
Many reporters are operating on the premise that the operation was conducted in good faith and had simply gone awry. What contributes to the controversy, however, of an otherwise yet again bungled government operation, is whistleblowers within a law enforcement environment. In law enforcement, a code of silence prevails on the basis that the public cannot readily understand sensitive law enforcement style, methods, priorities and sacrifices. However, many officers do have a conscience and do not accept these as the last word in service to the American people. Among these are the Oathkeepers who are public servant adherents to the Constitution and rule of law. Whistleblowers are similarly strict adherents in the liberty and integrity movement values system as well. The appearance of Oathkeepers or Whistleblowers at all is a reliable clue to corruption because it can be verified as serious and does not likely appear as a case of everyday disgruntled or embittered employees.
Whistleblowers have their trusted resources, too, people with whom they are willing to share vital professional experience and insight, information, reports of poor practices and corruption evidence. This bond is distinctive and conspicuous in this scandal. Two of the more trusted correspondents in this matter are two bloggers who originally broke the story and aroused the interest of both Congress and media. September 24th, 2011, David Codrea received the Second Amendment Foundation Journalist of The Year Award for his courageous, authentic and vital reportage of the scandal from the very beginning. It is Codrea and Mike Vanderboegh who were first contacted as most trusted by whistleblowers. [Google David Codrea or Mike Vanderboegh] Congressional committee suspicions then arose that the project was not a good faith undertaking gone awry, but a tactic to arouse national support for enhanced gun control.
Many of these same guns are being recovered from crime scenes in Arizona and throughout Mexico, which is artificially inflating ATF's eTrace statistics of U.S. origin guns seized in Mexico. Two of these guns recovered at the crime scene are linked to the murder of Customs and Border Protection Agent Brian Terry on December 14, 2010.
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is a federal law enforcement organization within the United States Department of Justice...
(ATF) intended to stem the flow of firearms into Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, in an attempt to deprive the Mexican drug cartels of weapons.
In early 2011, the operation became controversial when it was revealed that Operation Fast and Furious
Operation Fast and Furious
Operation Fast and Furious was a sting operation run by the United States via the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Phoenix Field Division between 2009 and 2010. Part of Project Gunrunner, the Southwest Border strategy first implemented it in 2006 to stem the flow of illegal...
and other probes under Project Gunrunner had allowed guns to "walk" into the hands of Mexican drug cartels
ATF gunwalking scandal
Between 2006 and 2011, the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ran a series of “gunwalking” sting operations under the umbrella of Project Gunrunner, a project intended to stem the flow of firearms into Mexico...
since as early as 2006.
History
The ATF began Project Gunrunner as a pilot project in Laredo, Texas, in 2005 and expanded it as a national initiative in 2006. Project Gunrunner is also part of the Department of JusticeUnited States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
’s broader Southwest Border Initiative, which seeks to reduce cross-border drug and firearms trafficking and the high level of violence associated with these activities on both sides of the border.
ATF has determined that the Mexican cartels have become the leading gun trafficking organizations operating in the southwest U.S. and is working in collaboration with other agencies and the Government of Mexico to expand the eTrace
ETrace
eTrace is an Internet-based firearm trace request submission system, developed by the United States' federal government, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, that provides for the electronic exchange of traced firearm data in a secure internet-based environment...
firearm tracing software system. eTrace
ETrace
eTrace is an Internet-based firearm trace request submission system, developed by the United States' federal government, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, that provides for the electronic exchange of traced firearm data in a secure internet-based environment...
provides web based access to ATF’s Firearms Tracing System to allow law enforcement both domestically and internationally the ability to trace firearms encountered in connection with a criminal investigation to the first recorded purchaser - who may have innocently sold the gun years ago. eTrace
ETrace
eTrace is an Internet-based firearm trace request submission system, developed by the United States' federal government, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, that provides for the electronic exchange of traced firearm data in a secure internet-based environment...
allows law enforcement to access their trace results directly (name and address of first purchaser) and offers the ability to generate statistical reports to analyze their trace data to estimate firearms trafficking trends or patterns.
ATF announced a goal to deploy eTrace
ETrace
eTrace is an Internet-based firearm trace request submission system, developed by the United States' federal government, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, that provides for the electronic exchange of traced firearm data in a secure internet-based environment...
software to all thirty-one states within the Republic of Mexico. As part of eTrace
ETrace
eTrace is an Internet-based firearm trace request submission system, developed by the United States' federal government, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, that provides for the electronic exchange of traced firearm data in a secure internet-based environment...
expansion, ATF continues to provide training to Mexican and Central American countries to ensure that the technology is utilized to a greater extent. Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
were provided with their own in-country tracing centers with full access to ATF firearm registration records. In Colombia, a joint ATF-CNP Center for Anti-Explosives Information and Firearms Tracing (CIARA) opened on December 6, 2006. In Mexico, The National Center for Information, Analysis and Planning in order to Fight Crime (CENAPI) was established in 2003. ATF states these are models for planned future tracing centers throughout Central and South America and the Caribbean Basin. In December, 2009, ATF announced deployment of a Spanish version of eTrace
ETrace
eTrace is an Internet-based firearm trace request submission system, developed by the United States' federal government, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, that provides for the electronic exchange of traced firearm data in a secure internet-based environment...
to Mexico, Guatemala and Costa Rica. A planned second phase will release the software to all Spanish-speaking countries with agreements with ATF. In June 2011 Congress opened an investigation into project gunrunner against the ATF, as some ATF agents have come forward stating that top heads in ATF and the Department of Justice instructed the agents to encourage gun stores in the U.S. to sell assault-style weapons to Mexican firearm traffickers.
In 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, abbreviated ARRA and commonly referred to as the Stimulus or The Recovery Act, is an economic stimulus package enacted by the 111th United States Congress in February 2009 and signed into law on February 17, 2009, by President Barack Obama.To...
provided $40 million to state and local law enforcement agencies. This money was primarily slated for competitive grants to provide assistance and equipment to local law enforcement along the southern border; and, in high-intensity drug trafficking areas, to combat criminal narcotics activity stemmming from the southern border. $10 million of the money was to be transferred to the BATF for Project Gunrunner to hire personnel and open facilities in 6 new locations. The use of "stimulus" money to fund Project Gunrunner is controversial, given the ATF Phoenix Field Division's reported initiative of allowing known criminals purchase guns in an effort to gain intelligence on the cartels (Operation Fast and Furious
Operation Fast and Furious
Operation Fast and Furious was a sting operation run by the United States via the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Phoenix Field Division between 2009 and 2010. Part of Project Gunrunner, the Southwest Border strategy first implemented it in 2006 to stem the flow of illegal...
).
Participants
Along with a number of Caribbean police forces, many countries use eTraceETrace
eTrace is an Internet-based firearm trace request submission system, developed by the United States' federal government, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, that provides for the electronic exchange of traced firearm data in a secure internet-based environment...
software:
Mexico, Colombia, Suriname, Tobago, Guyana, Canada, Germany, Bahama, Jamaica, Dominican Republic,
Barbados, Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, Aruba, Curacao, Dominica, Grenada, St. Vincent, Grenadines, St. Lucia,
Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, St. Kitts, Nevis, Britain, Australia, Japan, and Belgium.
These countries have access to American gun owner identities and information (first purchaser only) as a result of traces of recovered firearms contained in the database.
In GAO Report 09-709, ATF reports the National Tracing Center, “conducts the gun traces, and returns information on their findings to the submitting party”.
ATF has commissioned approximately 100 special agents and 25 industry operations investigators to the initiative, and is increasing its intelligence activities with other EPIC law enforcement partners stationed at the border, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
(FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...
(DEA), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Texas Department of Public Safety. ATF also works closely with these agencies’ task forces which operate along the Southwest border, sharing intelligence, and conducting joint investigations.
Operations
By early 2009, Project Gunrunner had resulted in approximately 650 cases by ATF, in which more than 1,400 defendants were referred for prosecution in federal and state courts and more than 12,000 firearms were involved.According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), during FY 2007 and 2008, ATF conducted twelve eTrace
ETrace
eTrace is an Internet-based firearm trace request submission system, developed by the United States' federal government, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, that provides for the electronic exchange of traced firearm data in a secure internet-based environment...
training sessions for Mexican police (over 961 Mexican police officers) in several Mexican cities, including the same cities where corrupt police were disarmed and arrested: Mexico City, Tijuana, Nuevo Laredo, and Matamoros. Despite the GAO
Gao
Gao is a town in eastern Mali on the River Niger lying ESE of Timbuktu. Situated on the left bank of the river at the junction with the Tilemsi valley, it is the capital of the Gao Region and had a population of 86,663 in 2009....
report, ATF now claims (October 2010) only about 20 people have been trained to use eTrace
ETrace
eTrace is an Internet-based firearm trace request submission system, developed by the United States' federal government, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, that provides for the electronic exchange of traced firearm data in a secure internet-based environment...
in Mexico. This discrepancy has not been explained. With the assistance of ATF’s Mexico City office and the Narcotics Affairs Section of the U.S. Department of State, ATF anticipates conducting numerous additional courses in these subject areas in 2009. According to Mexican government officials, corruption pervades all levels of Mexican law enforcement—federal, state, and local.
ATF reported they analyzed firearms seizures in Mexico from FY 2005-07 and identified the following weapons most commonly used by drug traffickers. However this conclusion is seriously flawed and not supported by ATF statistics, which only includes guns successfully traced and these are not necessarily connected to drug traffickers. The number of trace requests from Mexico has increased since FY 2006, but most seized guns in Mexico have not been traced.
- 9mm pistols
- .38 Super.38 SuperThe .38 Super or .38 Super Automatic is a pistol cartridge that fires a diameter bullet. The Super was introduced in the late 1920s as a higher pressure loading of the .38 ACP or .38 Auto. The old .38 ACP propelled a bullet at . The improved .38 Super Auto pushed the same bullet at...
pistols - 5.7mmFN 5.7×28mmThe FN 5.7×28mm is a small-caliber, high-velocity cartridge designed and manufactured by FN Herstal in Belgium. It is a bottlenecked centerfire cartridge that is somewhat similar to the .22 Hornet or .22 K-Hornet...
pistols - .45.45 ACPThe .45 ACP , also known as the .45 Auto by C.I.P., is a cartridge designed by John Browning in 1904, for use in his prototype Colt semi-automatic .45 pistol and eventually the M1911 pistol adopted by the United States Army in 1911.-Design and history:The U.S...
ACP pistols - AR-15AR-15The AR-15 is a lightweight, 5.56 mm, air-cooled, gas-operated, magazine-fed semi-automatic rifle, with a rotating-lock bolt, actuated by direct impingement gas operation. It is manufactured with the extensive use of aluminum alloys and synthetic materials....
type rifles - AK-47AK-47The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
type rifles
Controversy
ATFATF
- Places :* ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code of French Southern and Antarctic Lands* Chachoan Airport , Ambato, Ecuador- Organizations :...
Project Gunrunner has a stated official objective to stop the sale and export of guns from the United States into Mexico in order to deny Mexican drug cartels the firearms considered "tools of the trade". However, since 2006 under Operation Fast and Furious
Operation Fast and Furious
Operation Fast and Furious was a sting operation run by the United States via the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Phoenix Field Division between 2009 and 2010. Part of Project Gunrunner, the Southwest Border strategy first implemented it in 2006 to stem the flow of illegal...
, Operation Wide Receiver and others, it did the opposite by permitting, encouraging and facilitating 'straw purchase
Straw purchase
A straw purchase is any purchase wherein the purchaser knowingly acquires an item or service for someone who is, for whatever reason, unable to purchase the item or service themselves...
' firearm sales to traffickers, and allowing the guns to 'walk' and be transported to Mexico. This has resulted in the death of US border agent Brian Terry and considerable controversy.
Senator Charles E. Grassley (R
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
-IA) initiated an investigation with a letter to ATF
ATF
- Places :* ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code of French Southern and Antarctic Lands* Chachoan Airport , Ambato, Ecuador- Organizations :...
on 27 January 2011, and again on 31 January 2011. ATF responded through the Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
by denying all allegations. Senator Grassley responded with specific documentation supporting the allegations in letters to U.S. Attorney General Holder on 9 Feb 2011 and 16 Feb 2011. ATF refused to answer specific questions in a formal briefing to Senator Grassley on 10 Feb 2011.
Indictments filed in federal court, documentation obtained by Senator Grassley, and statements of ATF agents obtained by Senator Grassley and CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
, show that the ATF Phoenix Field Division allowed and facilitated the sale of over 2,500 firearms (AK-47 rifles, FN 5.7mm pistols, AK-47 pistols, and .50 caliber rifles) in 'straw man purchases
Straw purchase
A straw purchase is any purchase wherein the purchaser knowingly acquires an item or service for someone who is, for whatever reason, unable to purchase the item or service themselves...
' destined for Mexico. According to ATF agents, Mexican officials were not notified, and ATF agents operating in Mexico were instructed not to alert Mexican authorities about the operation. Some ATF agents and supervisors strongly objected, and gun dealers (who were cooperating with ATF) protested the sales, but were asked by ATF to complete the transactions to expose the supply chain and gather intelligence. However, there are accusations that the ATF was attempting to boost statistics to 'prove' that American guns are arming the Mexican drug cartels and to further budget and political objectives. It has been established that this operation violated long-established ATF policies and practices and that it is not a recognized investigative technique.
Many reporters are operating on the premise that the operation was conducted in good faith and had simply gone awry. What contributes to the controversy, however, of an otherwise yet again bungled government operation, is whistleblowers within a law enforcement environment. In law enforcement, a code of silence prevails on the basis that the public cannot readily understand sensitive law enforcement style, methods, priorities and sacrifices. However, many officers do have a conscience and do not accept these as the last word in service to the American people. Among these are the Oathkeepers who are public servant adherents to the Constitution and rule of law. Whistleblowers are similarly strict adherents in the liberty and integrity movement values system as well. The appearance of Oathkeepers or Whistleblowers at all is a reliable clue to corruption because it can be verified as serious and does not likely appear as a case of everyday disgruntled or embittered employees.
Whistleblowers have their trusted resources, too, people with whom they are willing to share vital professional experience and insight, information, reports of poor practices and corruption evidence. This bond is distinctive and conspicuous in this scandal. Two of the more trusted correspondents in this matter are two bloggers who originally broke the story and aroused the interest of both Congress and media. September 24th, 2011, David Codrea received the Second Amendment Foundation Journalist of The Year Award for his courageous, authentic and vital reportage of the scandal from the very beginning. It is Codrea and Mike Vanderboegh who were first contacted as most trusted by whistleblowers. [Google David Codrea or Mike Vanderboegh] Congressional committee suspicions then arose that the project was not a good faith undertaking gone awry, but a tactic to arouse national support for enhanced gun control.
Many of these same guns are being recovered from crime scenes in Arizona and throughout Mexico, which is artificially inflating ATF's eTrace statistics of U.S. origin guns seized in Mexico. Two of these guns recovered at the crime scene are linked to the murder of Customs and Border Protection Agent Brian Terry on December 14, 2010.