Operation Fast and Furious was a program by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives during the Obama administration that allowed guns to cross the U.S.-Mexico border with the aim of building arms trafficking cases against drug cartel figures. The operation led to charges against dozens of people but also lost track of nearly 2,000 weapons. Conservative media spread a conspiracy theory that the operation was designed to create violence in Mexico to give the Obama administration justification for new gun laws.