ATF Head quites like the loser he is.... My opinion plus link...

[tangoseal]

Fresh on Drudge...

Since the ATF is probably the most UN-Constitutional organization short of the Federal Reserve Bank I thought this was note worthy of being placed in the 2a section.

Of course Barry and Holder are completely immune to this. But that goes into the realm of politics so lets not derail this thread with that stuff.


Ken Melson, acting ATF chief, steps down - Jennifer Epstein and Josh Gerstein - POLITICO.com

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[BugDude]

Unfortunately, a small number of people will step down, be re-asssigned, and the whole issue will be swept under the rug while the real culprits will continue their sideways efforts towards gun control.

[msgt/ret]

Rather than stepping down he and his cohorts should be brought up on charges and prosecuted.

[SFury]

Politcal manuevering. He was merely a scapegoat used by others.

[Guns and more]

Melson comes out smelling like a rose.
First, let's see a show of hands , who thinks he took a pay cut?
He moves to DOJ Forensics in a do nothing job that is fire proof if Obama goes away in a couple years.
Also, he's close to Eric Holder who can keep an eye on him in case Melson decides to blab.
Hint to Melson: You'll be fine if you don't rat out Holder. If you do, stay away from Ft Marcy Park after dark.

[mprp]

Life must be rough when you can just "step down" from something like that and all will be well.

[rigel42]

Surprisingly, not many people have heard of "Fast & Furious". I was visiting my parents last weekend and we had a small get together. My dad brought this subject up and aside from myself, nobody else had heard of this??

[gasmitty]

Surprisingly, not many people have heard of "Fast & Furious". I was visiting my parents last weekend and we had a small get together. My dad brought this subject up and aside from myself, nobody else had heard of this??

Remember which team is in office, and that there are no Woodwards and Bernsteins out there today willing to air the stink that team makes. Without getting rah-rah about parties, you would have to be deaf, dumb and blind to not realize the easy ride the current President gets in the national ("mainstream") news media compared to the previous one.

[Superhouse 15]

The ATF website has a section about F&F and oddly enough it says nothing bad about the program.

[Eagleks]

Ok... Melson was the Director and he did like Fast and Furious.... but he was also the one who provided Congress a lot of info , including emails with Eric Holder that showed he knew things long before he says he did. He also did not take along a DOJ atty who's job it was to protect the DOJ, Holder and Obama. He was quite "open" with Congress.

So, Holder demotes him ; I see 2 reasons ... 1) use him as the escape goat and hope they leave him alone and Obama, 2) get rid of the snitch that wouldn't go along with the plan Holder had to protect himself and in the process giving a warning shot that no one else better talk, or else.

It was wrong, but ... he was honest with Congress and without him, a lot of things would not have come out into the open. So, while I think he was stupid ... by taking Fast and Furious to Holder for approval, etc..... at least he was honest about it and wouldn't play the political game either in order to protect Holder.

[archer51]

I'm sure he's being well "taken care" of, for being the scape goat for Holder and the rest of the crew.

[Guns and more]

Life must be rough when you can just "step down" from something like that and all will be well.

What about the guys at ATF who got a PROMOTION?

[Pistology]

Unfortunately, a small number of people will step down, be re-asssigned, and the whole issue will be swept under the rug while the real culprits will continue their sideways efforts towards gun control.

Surprisingly, not many people have heard of "Fast & Furious".

Remember which team is in office, and that.... you would have to be deaf, dumb and blind to not realize the easy ride the current President gets in the national ("mainstream") news media compared to the previous one.

Political season is just starting, and this is a talking point for the presidential candidate challenger; and the irony of gun grabbers' running guns to Mexico to make a case for grabbing guns in the U.S. shall prove irresistable to the pro-2A challenger. Obama is guilty of providing an influx of weapons thereby provoking violence in Mexico for the express purpose of highlighting an emergency gun control effort, here. This is Gunrunnergate.

Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is accussing DOJ of stonewalling. He is on record:

ATF leadership appears to have been effectively muzzled while the DOJ
sent over false denials and buried its head in the sand. That approach
distorted the truth and obstructed our investigation.

If Holder didn't approve this fiasco, what is he hiding? Holder was either deeply involved or grossly negligent about this horrendous scandal that has left hundreds of people dead.

Fox news reported:

The main person being investigated for gun smuggling "was actually an FBI informant
and former drug dealer who had been deported years ago"

Your tax dollars at work.

[beni]

What I want to know is when will people within the ATF and DOJ be held criminally liable? The law was clearly broken when they told the gun dealers to sell guns to people they knew the law specifically prohibits from selling guns to (convicted felons/straw purchasers). Last time I checked federal agencies are also bound by the law. I find it very disturbing when federal agencies can just pick and choose which laws they want to adhere to.

[Pistology]

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) are intensifying their investigation and seeking extensive communications from six top ATF officials, including "Dennis Burke, the former U.S. Attorney who was ousted in the shake-up", the WSJ reported, today.
Pasting three paragraphs because many don't have subscription to WSJ

The program, “Operation Fast and Furious,” was run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It allowed suspected gun smugglers to buy some 2,000 firearms, some of which have turned up in crimes on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border; most haven’t been tracked down. When Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was fatally shot in December 2010, two assault rifles linked to “Fast and Furious” were found at the crime scene.

On Tuesday, Mr. Burke resigned and Kenneth Melson, acting head of the ATF was reassigned. In addition, an assistant U.S. attorney in Arizona, Emory Hurley, was also reassigned.

In their letter, Messrs. Grassley and Issa zeroed in on a court filing by the Phoenix office seeking to deny Mr. Terry’s family rights under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act, and expressed concerns about conflicts of interest in prosecuting the Terry case. “Since your office directed and approved the daily tactical decisions in Operation Fast and Furious, it is hard to avoid the perception that a conflict of interest exists,” the two wrote.

It's a low blow to stab the Terry family in the back. Point being, this isn't going away.