The Fast and Furious report

by David Safier

The Star's Tim Steller is definitely the man in Tucson when it comes to the ins and outs of the Operation Fast and Furious investigation, and he'll no doubt write about the just-released report from the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General in depth. Meanwhile, Media Matters, which has spent a great deal of time and resources following the story, has an analysis of the report.

The report states there is "no evidence that the agents responsible for the cases had improper motives or were trying to accomplish anything other than dismantling a dangerous firearms trafficking organization." However, it also says there were flaws in the way the Fast and Furious operations were conducted.

"While we found no evidence that the agents responsible for the cases had improper motives or were trying to accomplish anything other than dismantling a dangerous firearms trafficking organization, we concluded that the conduct and supervision of the investigations was significantly flawed."

The report states, contrary to right wing theories, the operation was not designed to encourage greater regulation of firearms.

"We found no evidence that contradicted [then-Acting ATF Director Kenneth] Melson's statements to us concerning the long gun reporting requirement; and no evidence that ATF Phoenix initiated the investigation in order to facilitate efforts to obtain long gun legislation."

Expect to hear the report analyzed and re-analyzed, spun, re-spun, un-spun and spun again. Expect it to become a campaign issue. Expect to hear the NRA and its most ardent supporters tell you Obama wants to take away your guns, and the strongest evidence of his plan do disarm the country is, he's done nothing in the past 4 years to take away your guns, which just shows how crafty and untrustworthy he is. He's lulling you into a false sense of security so he can get reelected and send his jack-booted thugs into your homes, dresser drawers and gun closets to take away your Second Amendment rights come January 1.