| ...
| Meanwhile, press coverage of the operation itself, notably
| by Fortune magazine, has begun to reveal an underlying
| irony. Fast and Furious was an attempt by the Bureau of
| Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to slow the flow
| of guns into Mexico, where they often end up in the hands
| of murderous drug cartels. The ATF agents were hobbled by
| Arizona laws that allow almost anyone to buy firearms of
| almost any type and quantity. Federal prosecutors refused
| to bring cases against people identified as likely
| gun-running suspects, judging the chances of winning
| convictions to be remote.
|
| In the U.S. House, however, Fast and Furious is being
| portrayed as part of a broad effort to restrict gun rights,
| rather than as at least partially a product of the
| near-absence of such restrictions. The National Rifle
| Association scored the Holder vote as a gun-rights issue,
| meaning that members who wanted to keep their 100 percent
| NRA ratings had to support the contempt citation. All
| Republicans and 17 Democrats fell in line.
| ...
<
http://www.registerguard.com/web/opinion/28312955-47/contempt-holder-fast-furious-citation.html.csp>
--bks