[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 108 (Tuesday, July 19, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H5167]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       CONTROL THE ATF, NOT GUNS

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, under the ATF's Operation Fast and 
Furious, straw purchasers bought and sold guns to Mexican drug cartels 
while the ATF watched. It is hard to understand why the ATF is 
complicit in the drug smuggling business. Maybe the government hoped it 
would lead to more gun control, but unfortunately, it led to murder.
  Border Patrol agent Brian Terry and ICE agent Jaime Zapata were 
killed by guns that were trafficked into Mexico under this operation. 
Rather than investigate this ill-conceived and dangerous operation, the 
Federal Government is doing what it does best, creating gun control 
regulations to solve a problem it created. The President's new 
discriminatory Executive order requires border States to report 
purchases of two or more rifles to the ATF, the very agency that 
purposely and incompetently let over 2,000 guns go to Mexico, 1,400 of 
which are still missing. This administration ignores the obvious. It's 
not the gun; it's the shooter. And in this case, it's the Federal 
Government's recklessness and stupidity that led to at least two 
murders. It's time to control the ATF, not guns.
  And that's just the way it is.

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