Well, well, well… I guess you can add terrorists to the list of people Fast and Furious was arming. I wish I could say, “It’s amazing no one has gone to jail over this,” but it’s not surprising. Accountability in government has become a quaint notion. I’m particularly curious about this:
Soofi’s attempt to buy a gun caught the attention of authorities, who slapped a seven-day hold on the transaction, according to his Feb. 24, 2010, firearms transaction record, which was reviewed by the Los Angeles Times. Then, for reasons that remain unclear, the hold was lifted after 24 hours, and Soofi got the 9-millimeter.
There’s no provision in the Brady Act for a seven day hold. There can be a 72 hour hold while the case is reviewed. After that the dealer can go ahead under a “default proceed.” In this case, the sale was cleared after 24 hours. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) is demanding to know what the reason for the hold was, why the sale was cleared, and why the purchase was allowed to go ahead. The FBI is declining to comment. I would tend to think they’d be eager to comment if this was just an ordinary NICS issue.
Occam’s Razor suggests the 7 day delay part of that is a mistake of the part of the LAT.
When does the staute of limitiations run on most of these Fast and Furious crimes? If it is before 2017, they will not be prosecuted period, stop. I do not think the 300 or so murders in Mexico, outside US Jurisdiction count in determining the US statute of limitations.
If so, then the best we can do is some sort of honest commision report, with people named and shamed, but no criminal sanctions. “Guilty as Hell, Free as a Bird,” to quote one of President Obama’s early political mentors, Professor Bill Ayers.
F&F includes some of the few classes of official misbehavior that I would consider should NOT expire with the resignation or retirement of the office-holders.
One of the causes of the fall of the Roman Republic was the desperate need of officeholders to continue to hold their office and the immunity that came with it lest their enemies come after them on (often trumped up or minor) charges of official misconduct; with the process of prosecution being the punishment even if the actual punishment was mild.