ATF - AGENCY OUT OF CONTROL??

ATF has been making headlines recently—and not ones for which they should be proud. First, everyone’s heard about the “Fast and Furious” scandal in which they let guns walk into Mexico where they are being used by violent Mexican drug cartels. Now, several other examples of highly questionable behavior has surfaced calling into question the real mission of that agency. A common investigative plan that ATF is implementing around the US is for agents to set up stores, many of them pawn shops, and use these stores in ways that likely increase the likelihood of crime in these at risk neighborhoods.

First, take a look at poor Aaron Key, a mentally disabled 19-year-old who started hanging out with the guys who ran a smoke shop near his house and clearly mistook these acquaintances for friends. As it turns out, they were undercover ATF agents who set up the smoke shop as a front and paid Aaron and a friend $150 apiece to tattoo the fake shop’s emblem on their necks. Other examples where the ATF targeted low hanging fruit include:

■ ATF agents befriended mentally disabled people to drum up business and later arrested them. In Wichita, ATF agents referred to a man with a low IQ as “slow-headed” before deciding to secretly use him as a key cog in their sting whereas agents in Albuquerque gave a brain-damaged drug addict with little knowledge of weapons a “tutorial” on machine guns, hoping he could find them one.

■ Agents in several cities opened undercover gun and drug-buying operations in safe zones near churches and schools, allowed juveniles to come in and play video games and teens to smoke marijuana, and even provided alcohol to underage youths. In Portland, attorneys for three teens who were charged said a female agent dressed provocatively, flirted with the boys, and encouraged them to bring drugs and weapons to the undercover store to sell.

■ In many cities, including Milwaukee, agents at these “pawn shops” offered sky-high prices for guns, leading suspects to buy firearms at stores and turn around and sell them to undercover agents for a quick profit. In other stings, agents readily bought stolen items, such as electronics and bikes—no questions asked—spurring burglaries and theft. In Atlanta, agents bought guns that had been stolen just hours earlier, several ripped off from police cars.

■ Agents pressed suspects for specific firearms that could fetch tougher penalties in court. They allowed felons to walk out of the stores armed with guns. In Wichita, agents suggested a felon take a shotgun, saw it off and bring it back—and provided instructions on how to do it. The sawed-off gun allowed them to charge the man with a more serious crime.

These are the tip of the iceberg! In Milwaukee, a machine gun and other weapons had been stolen from an agent’s car, the “pawn shop” was burglarized, agents arrested the wrong people and hired a brain-damaged man, who had an IQ of 54, to set up gun and drug deals. The machine gun has yet to be recovered.

As you can imagine, the ATF has openly resisted all efforts to investigate these instances of misfeasance and malfeasance. Most people in a high-crime neighborhoods would be eager to have the ATF targeting the scourge of their neighborhoods. How can it make sense for the ATF to set up camp in these at risk neighborhoods and sell guns to felons, exploit mentally disabled locals, and provide refuge to underaged teens where they can drink and smoke weed?

Click here for a full article in the Atlantic:

“Feds Paid a Teen to Get a Neck Tattoo of a Giant Squid Smoking a Joint”