The acting director of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is poised to step down because of a controversial operation that allowed the sale of weapons to suspected agents of Mexican drug cartels, according to two sources inside the agency.
The shuffle, which could happen as early as this week, is the most significant repercussion yet from a growing public outcry over the "Fast and Furious" operation, under which ATF agents stood back and watched while a network of straw purchasers acquired more than 1,700 AK-47s and other high-powered rifles from Arizona gun dealers and delivered them to others. Large numbers of the weapons turned up at crime scenes in Mexico and the U.S.