Officials in the Justice Department discussed using the deadly “Fast & Furious” gun-running operation to push new gun control that otherwise wouldn’t be politically feasible, according to documents obtained by CBS News.

ATF officials didn’t intend to publicly disclose their own role in letting Mexican cartels obtain the weapons, but emails show they discussed using the sales, including sales encouraged by ATF, to justify a new gun regulation called “Demand Letter 3″. That would require some U.S. gun shops to report the sale of multiple rifles or “long guns.” Demand Letter 3 was so named because it would be the third ATF program demanding gun dealers report tracing information.

On July 14, 2010 after ATF headquarters in Washington D.C. received an update on Fast and Furious, ATF Field Ops Assistant Director Mark Chait emailed Bill Newell, ATF’s Phoenix Special Agent in Charge of Fast and Furious:

“Bill – can you see if these guns were all purchased from the same (licensed gun dealer) and at one time. We are looking at anecdotal cases to support a demand letter on long gun multiple sales. Thanks.”

On Jan. 4, 2011, as ATF prepared a press conference to announce arrests in Fast and Furious, Newell saw it as “(A)nother time to address Multiple Sale on Long Guns issue.” And a day after the press conference, Chait emailed Newell: “Bill–well done yesterday… (I)n light of our request for Demand letter 3, this case could be a strong supporting factor if we can determine how many multiple sales of long guns occurred during the course of this case.”

This is why media outlets have to stop referring to “Fast & Furious” as a “botched” operation. It wasn’t “botched” at all. The operation went exactly according to plan.

Officials in the Justice Department, looking to implement new and controversial gun control, allowed thousands of guns to reach Mexican gangs and drug cartels. The ensuing violence, including the murder of a Border Patrol agent, would provide plenty of anecdotes to win the public over to supporting new gun control measures. The fact the federal government was responsible would never be revealed.

The only part of the operation that failed was the secrecy. Unfortunately for anti-gun officials, an ATF agent involved had a conscience. He went to Congress. Only then did their plan fall apart. The rest of it? The parts up to that point? Completely intentional and successful. They stimulated violence by funneling weapons to Mexican gangs and drug cartels.