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"Gunwalking", or "letting guns walk", was a tactic of the Arizona Field Office of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), which ran a series of sting operations〔〔 between 2006 and 2011〔 in the Tucson and Phoenix area where the ATF "purposely allowed licensed firearms dealers to sell weapons to illegal straw buyers, hoping to track the guns to Mexican drug cartel leaders and arrest them." These operations were done under the umbrella of Project Gunrunner, a project intended to stem the flow of firearms into Mexico by interdicting straw purchasers and gun traffickers within the United States.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.atf.gov/publications/factsheets/factsheet-project-gunrunner.html )〕 The Jacob Chambers Case began in October 2009 and eventually became known in February 2010 as "Operation Fast and Furious" after agents discovered Chambers and the other suspects under investigation belonged to a car club.〔 The stated goal of allowing these purchases was to continue to track the firearms as they were transferred to higher-level traffickers and key figures in Mexican cartels, with the expectation that this would lead to their arrests and the dismantling of the cartels.〔 The tactic was questioned during the operations by a number of people, including ATF field agents and cooperating licensed gun dealers.〔Jason Ryan, "(Documents Highlight Bush-Era Incident Pre-Dating ‘Fast and Furious’ )", ABC News, October 14, 2011.〕〔(The Department of Justice's Operation Fast and Furious: Accounts of ATF Agents ), JOINT STAFF REPORT, Prepared for Rep. Darrell E. Issa and Senator Charles E. Grassley, 112th Congress, June 14, 2011.〕〔(Sharyl Attkisson, "Gun shop owner expressed concerns early on in "gunwalker" scandal" ), CBS News Investigates, April 14, 2011 1:19 pm.〕〔(Letter from Senator Charles Grasseley to Attorney General Eric Holder, Apr 13, 2011 ), on e-mails between "Cooperating FFL" and ATF David Voth.〕 During ''Operation Fast and Furious'', the largest "gunwalking" probe, the ATF monitored the sale of about 2,000〔〔 firearms, of which only 710 were recovered .〔 A number of straw purchasers have been arrested and indicted; however, as of October 2011, none of the targeted high-level cartel figures had been arrested.〔 Guns tracked by the ATF have been found at crime scenes on both sides of the Mexico–United States border, and the scene where United States Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed December 2010. The "gunwalking" operations became public in the aftermath of Terry's murder.〔 Dissenting ATF agents came forward to Congress in response.〔(Sharyl Attkinsson, "Gunrunning scandal uncovered at the ATF" ), CBS Evening News, February 23, 2011.〕 According to Humberto Benítez Treviño, former Mexican Attorney General and chair of the justice committee in the Chamber of Deputies, related firearms have been found at numerous crime scenes in Mexico where at least 150 Mexican civilians were maimed or killed. Revelations of "gunwalking" led to controversy in both countries, and diplomatic relations were damaged. As a result of a dispute over the release of Justice Department documents related to the scandal, Attorney General Eric Holder became the first sitting member of the Cabinet of the United States to be held in contempt of Congress on June 28, 2012.〔〔 Earlier that month, President Barack Obama had invoked executive privilege for the first time in his presidency over the same documents.〔〔 == Background == ATF "gunwalking" operations were, in part, a response to longstanding criticism of the bureau for focusing on relatively minor gun violations while failing to target high-level gun smuggling figures.〔 U.S. firearms laws currently govern the possession and transfer of firearms and provide penalties for the violation of such laws. “Gun trafficking”, although not defined by statute, essentially includes the movement or diversion of firearms from legal to illegal markets. A 2009 GAO report on efforts to combat arms trafficking to Mexico notes that straw purchasing is not in itself illegal, although it is illegal to provide false information in connection with a purchase. Four federal statutes govern U.S. commerce of firearms domestically and internationally. Many states supplement these federal statutes and have firearms laws of their own that are stricter. For example, some states require permits to obtain firearms and impose a waiting period for firearm transfers. Domestic commerce and importations into the United States are generally regulated under the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) and the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA). The exportation of firearms from the United States is regulated by the Arms Export Control Act of 1976 and, to a lesser extent, the Export Administration Regulations (EAR).〔 Defendants are often prosecuted and convicted under provisions of statutes such as the GCA that make it unlawful for certain persons to be in possession of firearms, govern the transaction process of obtaining firearms (e.g., straw purchases), and contain penalties for the use of a firearm in a crime of violence or a drug trafficking crime, or penalties for knowingly or fraudulently smuggling goods that would be contrary to U.S. law and regulation.〔 In a 2012 case in San Juan, Texas, under existing 1968 Gun Control Act provisions on straw purchasing (Title 18 United States Code, Section 924(a)(1)(A)), straw purchaser Taisa Garcia received 33 months and buyer Marco Villalobos received 46 months, plus two years supervision after release.〔("Two San Juan residents get federal prison time for firearms straw purchases" ), YourValleyVoice.com, McAllen Texas, January 18, 2012.〕 In another Texas gun trafficking case, Oscar Bravo Hernandez received a sentence of 84 months for buying and sending to Mexico at least 55 firearms from a ring of nine straw purchasers who received sentences from 51 months for the most involved down to three years probation for the least involved.〔("10 Sentenced for Involvement in Straw Purchase and Export Ring" ), USAO Southern District of Texas press release, March 1, 2012.〕 According to twenty-year ATF veteran Jay Wachtel, letting guns "walk" has been a practice done in a controlled manner that involved surveillance and eventual seizure of the weapons. "The idea was that you would follow it long enough until you were sure you had enough probable cause" to initiate an arrest, Wachtel said. According to ATF field agents involved in Operation Fast and Furious, a part of Project Gunrunner, "ATF agents were trained to interdict guns and prevent criminals from obtaining them" and not to allow guns to walk and then disappear.〔 ATF agents assigned to Phoenix from other districts to work on Fast and Furious were critical of the operation.〔("The Department of Justice's Operation Fast and Furious: Accounts of ATF Agents" ) Joint Staff Report Prepared for Rep. Darrell E. Issa and Senator Charles E. Grassley, 112th Congress, June 14, 2011.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「ATF gunwalking scandal」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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