SmarterthanYou
rebel
http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/wa...-guns-reports-show-b99213499z1-247182581.html
ATF agents have lost track of dozens of government-issued guns, after stashing them under the front seats in their cars, in glove compartments or simply leaving them on top of their vehicles and driving away, according to internal reports from the past five years obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Agents left their guns behind in bathroom stalls, at a hospital, outside a movie theater and on a plane, according to the records, obtained Tuesday by the news organization under the federal Freedom of Information Act.
In December 2009, two 6-year-old boys spotted an agent's loaded ATF Smith & Wesson .357 on a storm sewer grate in Bettendorf, Iowa. The agent lived nearby and later said he couldn't find his gun for days but didn't bother reporting it — until it hit the local newspaper.
In Los Angeles in 2011, an agent went out to a bar drinking with other agents and friends, reportedly consuming four alcoholic beverages. The next morning he woke up and realized his ATF-issued Glock was gone. It was not found.
All of the agents' names are blacked out on the reports, which do not say if the agents were disciplined. It is clear that agency rules were not followed in many of the incidents, which show at least 49 guns were lost or stolen nationwide between 2009 and 2013.
One report on an agent who lost her gun when she moved concluded by quoting an ATF order that, in part, says bureau-issued guns when not carried or in the immediate control of the agents "shall be stored in secured, locked locations."
The order also says agents "must exercise good judgment and common sense when assessing the security of Bureau-issued firearms."
In Milwaukee, an undercover agent had three of his guns, including an ATF-owned machine gun, stolen from his government truck parked at a coffee shop in September 2012.
The theft was among acascade of mistakes made in the ATF's Operation Fearless, an undercover storefront about a mile away in the Riverwest neighborhood. The Journal Sentinel uncovered a series of problems in the sting and others like it run by the ATF across the country.
The internal reports released Tuesday reveal the ATF quickly closed its investigation into the guns stolen in Milwaukee. But the matter was reopened after the Journal Sentinel investigation revealed the theft and other problems in Operation Fearless. The follow-up report indicates the agent had not followed ATF rules on how to secure his guns.
A congressional hearing on the storefront stings will be held Thursday in Washington, D.C.
The hearing and another expected to be held next month were scheduled in the wake of the Journal Sentinel investigation, which found that the ATF used mentally disabled people to promote operations and then arrested them on drug and gun charges; opened storefronts close to schools and churches, increasing arrest numbers and penalties; and attracted juveniles with free video games and alcohol.
Agents paid inflated prices for guns, which led to people buying weapons at stores and selling them to undercover agents hours later, in some cases for nearly three times what they paid. In addition, agents allowed armed felons to leave their fake stores and openly bought stolen goods, spurring burglaries in surrounding neighborhoods.
The ATF has weapons stolen or loses them more frequently than other federal law enforcement agencies
ATF agents have lost track of dozens of government-issued guns, after stashing them under the front seats in their cars, in glove compartments or simply leaving them on top of their vehicles and driving away, according to internal reports from the past five years obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Agents left their guns behind in bathroom stalls, at a hospital, outside a movie theater and on a plane, according to the records, obtained Tuesday by the news organization under the federal Freedom of Information Act.
In December 2009, two 6-year-old boys spotted an agent's loaded ATF Smith & Wesson .357 on a storm sewer grate in Bettendorf, Iowa. The agent lived nearby and later said he couldn't find his gun for days but didn't bother reporting it — until it hit the local newspaper.
In Los Angeles in 2011, an agent went out to a bar drinking with other agents and friends, reportedly consuming four alcoholic beverages. The next morning he woke up and realized his ATF-issued Glock was gone. It was not found.
All of the agents' names are blacked out on the reports, which do not say if the agents were disciplined. It is clear that agency rules were not followed in many of the incidents, which show at least 49 guns were lost or stolen nationwide between 2009 and 2013.
One report on an agent who lost her gun when she moved concluded by quoting an ATF order that, in part, says bureau-issued guns when not carried or in the immediate control of the agents "shall be stored in secured, locked locations."
The order also says agents "must exercise good judgment and common sense when assessing the security of Bureau-issued firearms."
In Milwaukee, an undercover agent had three of his guns, including an ATF-owned machine gun, stolen from his government truck parked at a coffee shop in September 2012.
The theft was among acascade of mistakes made in the ATF's Operation Fearless, an undercover storefront about a mile away in the Riverwest neighborhood. The Journal Sentinel uncovered a series of problems in the sting and others like it run by the ATF across the country.
The internal reports released Tuesday reveal the ATF quickly closed its investigation into the guns stolen in Milwaukee. But the matter was reopened after the Journal Sentinel investigation revealed the theft and other problems in Operation Fearless. The follow-up report indicates the agent had not followed ATF rules on how to secure his guns.
A congressional hearing on the storefront stings will be held Thursday in Washington, D.C.
The hearing and another expected to be held next month were scheduled in the wake of the Journal Sentinel investigation, which found that the ATF used mentally disabled people to promote operations and then arrested them on drug and gun charges; opened storefronts close to schools and churches, increasing arrest numbers and penalties; and attracted juveniles with free video games and alcohol.
Agents paid inflated prices for guns, which led to people buying weapons at stores and selling them to undercover agents hours later, in some cases for nearly three times what they paid. In addition, agents allowed armed felons to leave their fake stores and openly bought stolen goods, spurring burglaries in surrounding neighborhoods.
The ATF has weapons stolen or loses them more frequently than other federal law enforcement agencies
