In a move that should outrage every freedom-loving American, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has decided that the way to correct the utter failure (and criminality) of Operation “Fast and Furious” is to punish gun store owners.

That’s right: in response to the growing public outcry over the hundreds upon hundreds of guns which illegally crossed the border into Mexico with the ATF’s blessing, the DOJ is requiring gun stores in Arizona, California, Texas and New Mexico to report individual purchases of multiple rifles of greater than .22 caliber to the ATF. To quality for special reporting, the rifles also have to have a detachable magazine and be semi-automatic. (In other words, they are similar to many of the 2500 guns the ATF allowed “straw purchasers” to buy during Operation “Gunrunner.”)

Upon instituting this new rule late Monday night, July 11, Deputy Attorney General James Cole released a letter explaining that the new reporting mandate is due to the fact that such weapons “are highly sought after by dangerous drug trafficking organizations and frequently recovered at violent crime scenes near the Southwest Border.”

Cole added: “This new reporting measure…will improve the ability of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to detect and disrupt the illegal weapons trafficking networks responsible for diverting firearms from lawful commerce to criminals and criminal organizations.”

The hypocrisy here is palpable, and it is as repugnant to the rational mind as the DOJ-approved smuggling of weapons across the border was to begin with.

Where’s the apology for Border Agent Brian Terry’s death?

Where are the criminal prosecutions for every member of the Obama administration that had a hand in Operations “Gunrunner” and “Fast and Furious”?

They are nowhere to be seen because this has been part of the plan all along. As I wrote in a July 8, 2011, post on BigGovernment.com, the administration was hoping “to flood the border with weapons in order to create a degree of chaos sufficient to convince us of the supposed-need for more gun control in America.” They failed to convince us of the need for more gun control but via Cole’s announcement they are implementing it anyway.

Make no mistake folks, another way to describe this mandate to report multiple gun purchases (which will contain the purchaser’s name and personal information) is call it what it is – a gun registration scheme.

And of this you can be sure: the DOJ that couldn’t follow an AR-15 across the border without losing it during “Gunrunner” and “Fast and Furious” will have no problems keeping their eye on the guns law-abiding American citizens purchase for sport or personal protection.