Days after 20 children and six adults were killed in a school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, Rush Limbaugh used the tragedy in invoking a debunked conspiracy theory alleging the Obama administration launched Operation Fast and Furious in order to pass stricter gun-control legislation.

On Tuesday, Limbaugh rehashed the theory that Fast and Furious, a gun-running operation intended to track drug traffickers, was a nefarious plot to get criminals guns in the hope that the resulting violence would lead to public support for stronger gun-control laws. Limbaugh claimed that the “plan” behind Fast and Furious was to “create a bunch of gun violence with American guns, bought legally and therefore easily, and outrage the American people.” He then said, “Let me be blunt. The objective of Fast and Furious was to create the very emotional pitch people experienced after what happened in Newtown on Friday. That is exactly what Fast and Furious was intended to do, was to create that kind of reaction all over the country.”

Fast and Furious was a botched operation run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that “allowed a gun trafficking ring to buy hundreds of weapons and send them to Mexico as part of an investigative tactic,” as The New York Times reported. Unfortunately, officials “eventually lost track of hundreds of weapons,” including two that were found near the site where a Border Patrol agent was killed.

Although conservative media pushed the conspiracy theory that the operation was part of an Obama administration plot to push gun control, an independent investigation into Fast and Furious soundly debunked such claims. The Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General found “no evidence that the agents responsible for the cases had improper motives or were trying to accomplish anything other than dismantling a dangerous firearms trafficking organization.” The OIG report specifically noted there was no link between the operation and plans to regulate firearms, stating they found “no evidence that ATF Phoenix initiated the investigation in order to facilitate efforts to obtain long gun legislation.”