When three rusty rifles were found in the desert in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, south of Tucson on the Mexican border, the local sheriff wondered if they might be some of the two thousand or so guns the ATF let walk out of area gun stores bound for Mexican narco-traffickers. Even Carlos Canino, ATF assistant special agent in charge of the Phoenix field division thought it was plausible. “‘It’s not unreasonable’ to think that some random guns found in the desert might be part of the Fast and Furious program, Canino says. ‘It’s not over. It is what is — these guns are out there.'” Do tell. But the sheriff needn’t have worried . . .

Canino sent some ATF boys from Phoenix down to check out the dusty artifacts.

The agents confirmed what seemed to be a long shot, anyway: That the three assault rifles, found by a hiker in Madera County, definitely were not some of the guns ATF “walked” as part of its misguided program.

Well that’s comforting, right? More F&F guns found on this side of the border might have been embarrassing.

The three guns found on June 20 about 20 miles from the Arizona-Mexico border included a Chinese SKS, and AK-47s of Russian and Egyptian manufacture. After the trace was performed yesterday, the ATF found that one of the guns had been stolen in Phoenix — back in 1995.

Canino says the agency isn’t positive where the other two came from, but that he’s “100-percent certain” they weren’t from Fast and Furious.

OK then. We’re not quite as reassured as we hoped we’d be, but as agent Canino says, it is what it is. And today’s a holiday, anyway. So while we don’t know what the sheriff intends to do with the rusted junk, we can think of one organization that would be more than happy to take them off his hands.

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14 COMMENTS

  1. A DESERT has sand, hot weather, and tumbleweeds.

    A DESSERT is usually a tasty, after-meal treat. Like ice cream.

    😉

  3. Hoping for the ATF to be honest investigating itself is like asking politicians to respect the Bill of Rights.

  4. What’s the point of this post? Are you saying that because F&F is in the news that it’s OK for the ATF not to investigate the origin of guns being found in order to help the Mexicans?

    Granted, the Mexicans might just be enjoying the sense of schadenfreude and futility that the ATF must feel over this, but it’s not because they’re happy with the piles of guns flowing into their country 😉

    This latest episode certainly doesn’t disconfirm the idea that there are too many guns out there.

    • “but it’s not because they’re happy with the piles of guns flowing into their country ”

      And where do you think those guns are coming from?

      • Do tell, if you have all the answers. I’d love to know, and so would everyone else.

        The magic key to this mystery is that it wasn’t clear (of course, it still might not be clear) where these guns came from, so it seems only responsible to start trying to figure out where these guns are coming from.

        Is the ATF not reporting the guns they are finding that were part of F&F? I don’t know. But since they screwed up so badly, I think it’s up to them to get back to what they were supposed to be doing all along – tracing guns that are abandoned or used in crimes.

    • Just like the obesity epidemic is occurring because THERE ARE TOO MANY DAMN SPOONS IN CIRCULATION!!!!

      Isn’t there a Brady meeting you could be attending?

  6. Now I can picture a new treat from Magnum Research/IWI – the “Dessert Eagle” – guaranteed to give you plenty of iron, copper and lead in every bite!

  7. Well we all know how trustworthy the ATF is, especially concerning the Fast & Furious program. So I’m sure those guns definitely weren’t part of the program, because they said so!

  8. Maybe these guns were part of a weathering test? Like those fences I see every once in a while painted 27 different colors to see how the paint holds up to wind rain and sun? Just wondering out loud here (LOL)

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