August 31, 2011 12:24PM # Removing Melson Will Not Fix the ATF By [David Rittgers](https://www.cato.org/people/david-rittgers) --- SHARE The controversy over the ATF’s ill-conceived scheme to “walk” guns across the border with Mexico finally resulted in the removal of one high-ranking official: [Acting Director Kenneth Melson](http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20099228-10391695.html). The U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, Todd Jones, will fill the position for now. A quick review: ATF supervisors [ordered](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12894) agents to facilitate firearm sales to known or suspected “straw buyers” that intended to move the guns across the border and give them to drug cartels. Gun dealers in the U.S. [reported](http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2011-08-08-ATF-guns-Operation-Fast-and-Furious-Congress_n.htm) the suspicious transactions to the ATF, expecting to cooperate in apprehending the gunrunners. As it turns out, the suspect buyers had disqualifying conditions that should have shown up in federally mandated instant background checks…[but didn’t](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/07/25/feds-refuse-to-explain-why-proper-background-checks-werent-conducted-on-fast/%27%20target=/). The firearms trafficked across the border predictably showed up at crime scenes, including those involved with the murder of a [Border Patrol agent](http://tucsoncitizen.com/view-from-baja-arizona/2011/06/15/brian-terrys-family-statement-at-atf-fast-and-furious-hearing/), an [ICE agent](http://articles.cnn.com/2011-03-01/world/mexico.agent.killed_1_atf-weapons-firearms?_s=PM:WORLD), a [Mexican military helicopter shoot-down](http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20069270-10391695.html), and [other murders](http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20073704-10391695.html) on both sides of the border. If you’re a private citizen, this sort of thing gets you [30 years in prison](http://www.statesman.com/news/local/austin-woman-who-smuggled-guns-to-mexico-gets-1775556.html?printArticle=y). If you’re a whistleblower within ATF, you get [terminated](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/06/27/atf-to-fire-gunrunner-whistleblower/). If you’re a supervisor responsible for such a scheme, you get promoted [reassigned](http://articles.latimes.com/2011/aug/17/nation/la-na-atf-guns-20110818) to ATF headquarters. This ATF scheme broke numerous firearm laws, [possibly the Arms Export Control Act](http://armsandthelaw.com/archives/2011/07/did_fast_furiou.php), and facilitated multiple murders. The end result this litany of crimes and persistent ATF and DOJ stonewalling congressional investigations cannot simply be Melson’s [removal](http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/2011/08/new-warning-bells-operation-fast-and-furious-probe) and replacement with a DOJ official who [may also have been complicit](http://confederateyankee.mu.nu/archives/320771.php) in the gun-running scheme. Meanwhile, the multiple long-gun sale reporting mandate that I [wrote about last year](https://www.cato.org/atf-laws-are-for-the-little-people/), which imposes conditions on gun dealers in border states [in violation of federal law](http://armsandthelaw.com/archives/2010/12/more_on_atf_ext.php), has been [implemented](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gun-dealers-will-have-to-report-multiple-semiautomatic-rifle-sales/2011/07/11/gIQAy3SI9H_story.html) by the ATF. This was almost certainly one of the goals of the “[gun control for the sake of Mexico](https://www.cato.org/gun-control-for-the-sake-of-mexico-the-meme-that-wouldnt-die/)” push we’ve seen for over two years, even though the numbers of private arms in cartel hands are [far lower](http://wilsoncenter.org/news/docs/Goodman%20Update%20on%20US%20Firearms%20to%20Mexico.pdf) than we’ve been told, ATF efforts notwithstanding. ATF headquarters is [throwing a party](http://armsandthelaw.com/archives/2011/08/atf_hq_celebrat.php) to celebrate the latest round of illegal action. Melson’s departure is certainly warranted, but we’re a few indictments and many terminations short of justice, in my mind. ##### Related Tags [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).