UPDATE: 10:29 EST Rep. Paul Gosar has said the following story is false.
New evidence shows not only did the Obama Justice Department allow known straw purchasers buy hundreds of semi-automatic rifles and handguns for ruthless drug cartels, but used tax payer dollars to buy guns directly from guns shops, sell them to known criminals and then lose track of them as they went back to Mexico and into stash houses.
More from FoxNews:
This disclosure, revealed in documents obtained by Fox News, could undermine the Department of Justice's previous defense that Operation Fast and Furious was a "botched" operation where agents simply "lost track" of weapons as they were transferred from one illegal buyer to another. Instead, it heightens the culpability of the federal government as Mexico, according to sources, has opened two criminal investigations into the operation that flooded their country with illegal weapons.
In June 2010, however, the ATF dramatically upped the ante, making the U.S. government the actual "seller" of guns.
According to documents obtained by Fox News, Agent John Dodson was ordered to buy six semi-automatic Draco pistols -- two of those were purchased at the Lone Wolf gun store in Peoria, Ariz. An unusual sale, Dodson was sent to the store with a letter of approval from David Voth, an ATF group supervisor.
Dodson then sold the weapons to known illegal buyers, while fellow agents watched from their cars nearby.
This was not a "buy-bust" or a sting operation, where police sell to a buyer and then arrest them immediately afterward. In this case, agents were "ordered" to let the sale go through and follow the weapons to a stash house.
According to sources directly involved in the case, Dodson felt strongly that the weapons should not be abandoned and the stash house should remain under 24-hour surveillance. However, Voth disagreed and ordered the surveillance team to return to the office. Dodson refused, and for six days in the desert heat kept the house under watch, defying direct orders from Voth.
A week later, a second vehicle showed up to transfer the weapons. Dodson called for an interdiction team to move in, make the arrest and seize the weapons. Voth refused and the guns disappeared with no surveillance.
Yes, you paid for all of it. Two federal agents are dead and hundreds of thousands of innocent Mexican citizens have been killed.
I am in Tucson, Ariz. today and will be attending a local town hall meeting this evening about Operation Fast and Furious hosted by the Tucson Tea Party. Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu will be speaking in addition to Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar and an ATF whistleblower. Be sure to check back to Townhall this evening and tomorrow morning for updates.
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