A gun found at the scene of a shootout between a Mexican drug cartel and soldiers where a beauty queen died was part of the botched “Fast and Furious” operation, CBS News reports.
Authorities had said that Maria Susana Flores Gamez was likely used as a human shield and that an automatic rifle had been found near her body after the Nov. 23 shootout.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, tells CBS News that the Justice Department did not notify Congress that a Fast and Furious firearm was found at the scene in Sinaloa.
CBS News learned the Romanian AK-47-type WASR-10 rifle found near her body was purchased by Uriel Patino at an Arizona gun shop in 2010. Patino is a suspect who allegedly purchased 700 guns while under the ATF’s watch.
As Katie wrote in her post today:
“The same Department of Justice that allowed the illegal transfer of 2500 semi-automatic AK-47 assault rifles to ruthless Mexican cartels, which resulted in the murders of hundreds in Mexico (including children) and two U.S. federal agents, is going to be dictating and enforcing the prohibition of sane law abiding U.S. citizen's owning semi-automatic rifles. Fantastic."