Quote:
Originally Posted by goofyballer
Starting in 2006, ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms) started intentionally and haphazardly letting guns across the border into Mexico hoping to track them to higher-up targets; this plan failed spectacularly and led to ~no major arrests I believe. Guns that ATF allowed across the border started showing up at crime scenes on both sides of the border, and in one noteworthy incident one of those guns was used to kill a Border Patrol officer. You may note that Obama became President in 2009, but facts don't matter, it's his scandal.
It is also important to note that the guns had tracking devices in them and the idea was that the ATF would then be able to follow the gun's path as it moved through the underworld.
You might ask yourself two things:
1) Wouldn't the batteries eventually die on the tracking devices?
and
2) Doesn't firearm maintenance require taking the gun apart on a semiregular basis, likely causing the device to be found?
The answer to both questions is "yes" lol it was a terrible idea.
But the right wing plot, very specifically, what makes it a scandal, is that they believed the Phoenix office of the ATF intentionally seeded a handful of guns into Mexico to somehow create a false flag that would allow Obama to take away everyone's guns.