ATF Operation Castaway Could Be Florida's Fast and Furious Scandal

When Barack Obama promised Sarah Brady he was pursuing gun control "under the radar," maybe he really meant it. The new controversy surrounds the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives' Operation Castaway.

Operation Castaway is the program that led to the arrest of, gun dealer, Hugh Crumpler III. He has been charged for his part in a weapons smuggling operation from Florida to Central America. Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R) is asking, Attorney General, Eric Holder and, ATF Acting Director, Kenneth Melson questions about the full nature of the ATF's Operation Castaway, specifically about the involvement of the ATF's Tampa Field Division.

The ATF is already denying any wrongdoing in the program. The ATF is claiming Operation Castaway was nothing like the botched Fast and Furious program that had ATF personnel allowing and encouraging weapons to flow from gun stores in the United States and into the hands of Mexican gangs. The problem is how do we trust the ATF? We already caught them allowing the smuggling of weapons to Mexico. How can we now be expected to believe the ATF would not also allow weapons to be smuggled into Central America?

How many more programs like this have been going on? Has our federal government had a secret policy of allowing weapons to illegally fall into the hands of dangerous criminals? If so, what is the motivation? The only obvious answer is that ATF is attempting to build a case for more gun laws in the United States, especially with regard to the sale of assault weapons.