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Accusing Attorney General Eric Holder of everything from lying to Congress to conspiring with gun control advocates to destroy the 2nd Amendment, a group of House Republicans Tuesday demanded that Holder resign or be fired as a result of a controversial “walking” operation.

Using some of the most blunt language that Holder critics have used, the House Republicans issued statements in advance of an afternoon news conference during which they planned to say that the attorney general must be held responsible for Operation Fast and Furious, a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives probe.

“After reviewing Attorney General Holder’s conflicting testimonies, uncovered evidence and recently released documents on Fast and Furious, it is clear that he is either lying or grossly incompetent,” said Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho). “Either way, he is unfit to serve the American people as the highest law enforcement officer in the land. Mr. Holder can no longer refuse responsibility for the actions of departments under his purview that cost the life of decorated U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry and that have put the lives of thousands of American citizens at risk. Eric Holder must resign, and responsible lawmakers and public servants should insist he do so.”

Holder critics have focused on two issues–blasting the attorney general for the gun operation and accusing him of misleading Congress about when he learned of it. Holder has said that he did not learn of Fast and Furious until this year and that ATF and officials from the Arizona U.S. Attorney’s office misled DOJ officials about it. Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke has resigned and Kenneth Melson, acting ATF director, has been reassigned.

Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.)

Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.)

“Attorney General Holder has proved time and again that he is not capable of being America’s top cop,” said Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.)   “President Obama needs to realize that Eric Holder needs to be removed from the Department of Justice as soon as possible. If the President does not push Holder out, the President would be complicit in the Justice Department’s attempts to thwart a Congressional investigation of Fast and Furious.  This is just another sad chapter in the Eric Holder book of incompetence.”

During Fast and Furious, ATF officials allowed guns to “walk” into Mexico in an effort to trace them.The operation allegedly resulted in the selling of at least 2,000 firearms to drug cartel members in Arizona via straw buyers. The ATF then allegedly permitted the guns to be trafficked to Mexico, where the bureau lost track of them. Two guns from the operation were recovered in December at the scene of a shootout between Border Patrol agents and Mexican bandits near Rio Rico, Ariz., that resulted in the death of Border Patrol agent Brian A. Terry. Other guns sold during the operation have been linked to violent crime scenes in Mexico. House Government Oversight and Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), Sen. Charles  Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee are conducting their own probe, as is the DOJ Inspector General.

In recent weeks, it has been revealed that a similar operation took place during the George W. Bush administration.

However, some Republicans, as well as the National Rifle Association,  have said that Fast and Furious is part of a larger agenda.  “Fast and Furious was an inherently flawed and arguably criminal program, which appears to have been created by this Administration to validate their misguided theory on U.S. gun dealers,” said Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.)  “Given the horrendous nature and terrible failure of the Fast and Furious operation under his watch and the lack of complete transparency from the Justice Department in the aftermath, the only prudent path forward for Attorney General Holder would be to step down effective immediately.”