Shooting Times

Evidence that this was setup to fail from the beginning:

“…the ATF can be its own worst enemy. Voth arrived in Phoenix in December 2009 only to discover that his group had not been funded. The group had little equipment and no long guns, electronic devices, or binoculars, forcing Voth to scrounge for supplies. Then there was Voth’s seven-agent team, which was almost instantly at war with itself. Most of the agents were transplants, unfamiliar with Arizona or one another.“

Evidence of internal politics getting in the way of progress:

“Dodson’s faction grew antagonistic to Voth. They regularly fired off snide e-mails and seemed to delight in mocking Voth and his methodical nature. They were scornful of protocol, according to ATF agents. Dodson would show up to work in flip-flops. He came unprepared for operations—without safety equipment or back-up plans—and was pulled off at least one surveillance for his own safety, say two colleagues. He earned the nickname “Renegade,” and soon Voth’s group effectively divided into two clashing factions: the Sunshine Bears and the Renegades.”

Evidence of external politics getting in the way:

“But that was nearly impossible to prove to prosecutors’ satisfaction. And agents could not seize guns or arrest suspects after being directed not to do so by a prosecutor.”

Incorrect conclusions:

“Jaime Avila, a transient, admitted methamphetamine user, bought three WASR-10 rifles at the Lone Wolf Trading Company in Glendale, Ariz. The next day, a helpful Lone Wolf employee faxed Avila’s purchase form to ATF to flag the suspicious activity. It was the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, so the agents didn’t receive the fax until Tuesday, according to a contemporaneous case report. By that time, the legally purchased guns had been gone for three days.” This was not legal according to ATF form 4473 Section 11. e. This is a pedantic point.

More evidence of prosecutors vs field agents:

” In Minneapolis, the prosecutors Voth had worked with had approved wiretap applications within 24 hours. But in Phoenix, days turned into weeks, and Group VII’s wiretap application languished with prosecutors in Arizona and Washington, D.C.”

More field agent vs prosecutor shennanigans:

” After examining one suspect’s garbage, agents learned he was on food stamps yet had plunked down more than $300,000 for 476 firearms in six months. Voth asked if the ATF could arrest him for fraudulently accepting public assistance when he was spending such huge sums. Prosecutor Hurley said no.“

Short version: A lot of people fucked up often, and the project was doomed to failure through mismanagement politics and just being assholes. Does this preclude political intent behind the project, not at all. But it does suggest that those involved were generally much much less informed than we would like.