Gun Control Group Whitewashes Border Agent Murder

The facts are these. When Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was murdered on December 14, 2010 by individuals who used guns that the ATF put in their hands, select agents at the agency - beginning with John Dodson - began blowing the whistle. Documents and emails released subsequently to Rep. Darrell Issa and Sen. Chuck Grassley unequivocally show that gun store owners were acting responsibly and it was the ATF that directed those store owners to sell those weapons to straw purchasers who put them in the hands of cartels responsible for murdering Terry.

Those facts were apparently too inconvenient for a report released by the Brady Campaign, a gun control group. Not only did they ignore those facts but the report pointed to Terry's death to help make its case that America's gun laws are too weak. In reality, its the federal government that appears to be breaking them.

Via Seattle Gun Rights Examiner:

The anti-gun Brady Campaign is out today with a new report about police officer slayings that, according to critics, contains a virtual whitewash of the Project Gunrunner scandal.

The Brady report calls revelations about the case “unconfirmed and disputed” while using the death of a Border Patrol agent linked to the gun trafficking case to call for further restrictions on semiautomatic firearms and retail gun dealers.

The report, headlined Officers Gunned Down: How Weak Gun Laws Put Police at Risk, briefly touches on the slayings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata in February and Customs and Border Protection agent Brian Terry last December. In its discussion of the Zapata murder in northern Mexico with a gun linked to a Texas-based Gunrunner suspect, the report only says the gun was “purchased in Texas.” This column offered considerably more detail.

In the one section of the REPORT where Terry's death was mentioned, it's asserted that stronger gun laws could have prevented his murder:

Two of the guns recovered at the scene of Agent Terry's murder were part of a Phoenix based sting operation targeting major Mexican drug trafficking organizations. The shooting has engendered controversy, as it is alleged that federal prosecutors and ATF permitted 1,998 guns to be purchased and retained by suspected straw buyers in the hope that a major case could be built. While the truth of those allegations are disputed and unconfirmed. It is undisputed that if firearms laws were stronger by prohibiting multiple sales and requiring responsible sales practices, these gun sales could not have been legally completed.

First of all, the claims are NOT disputed. There are mountains of documents, emails, and actual agents who have blown the scandal wide open for those willing to pay attention. Second, the notion that stricter gun laws would have prevented ATF officials from directing gun store owners to sell to straw purchasers is ridiculous. Besides, the store owners followed the laws by all accounts; they even expressed concern to the ATF - concern the ATF seemed to ignore. Why penalize those who follow the law by making the laws more strict while giving high ranking officials who have Brian Terry's blood on their hands, a pass?

HERE is the full report.