Mr. Grassley has raised questions on whether ATF allowed suspected gun smugglers to purchase and keep assault rifles that later were used to kill Border Patrol Agent Brian A. Terry, and if the agency allowed the sale of the weapons to “known and suspected straw purchasers for an illegal trafficking ring near the Southwest border.” He said two of those weapons reportedly were recovered at the site of the Terry shooting.
The senator said ATF agents told his staff the agency, as part of “Project Gunrunner” and its “Fast and Furious” component, allowed guns to “walk” across the border, despite warnings from agents in the field that the policy would result in somebody getting killed. “Fast and Furious” was a gunrunning sting set up by ATF that funneled more than 1,700 smuggled weapons from Arizona to Mexico.
Terry, 40, was attempting to arrest bandits who prey on illegal aliens when he was fatally shot about 10 miles north of the U.S.-Mexicoborder.
Mr. Grassley said ATF had been tracking the gun purchases of one of those arrested in the shooting, Jaime Avila, since November 2009 when he made his first buys at a Glendale, Ariz., gun shop. He said Avilabought three more weapons at the same dealer on Jan. 9, 2010, and three AK-47 assault rifles on Jan. 16. Over the next several months, he said ATF continued to track his multiple firearms purchases, including two purchases of .50-caliber rifles in June 2010.
While at least one Arizona gun dealer wanted to stop participating in sales “like those to Avila,” he said ATF encouraged the dealer to continue selling to suspected traffickers.
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