The National Rifle Association wants Congress to investigate how the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms let thousands of weapons cross the U.S.-Mexico border, knowing that Mexico drug cartels would most likely get their hands on them, CBS News reports.
Law enforcement officials who are members of the NRA are outraged at the so-called "gunwalking" and contacted the group, Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the organization, told
CBS News.
"They [the ATF] wanted to prove that there were guns flowing to
Mexico, so they set up an illegal pipeline to send guns to Mexico," LaPierre said. "When does it stop being law enforcement and start being a criminal enterprise? To prove there's Islamic terrorists are they going to start manufacturing and selling explosives? It just makes no sense."
ATF agents from the agency's Phoenix office alerted several groups about the practice, including CBS News, U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), and blogs such as "Clean Up ATF." The gunwalking was allegedly allowed in a case known as "Fast and Furious" out of Phoenix, and also allowed in a case known as "Wide Receiver" out of Tucson and supervised by Phoenix.