Looks like it's basically been confirmed now that the purpose of the fast and furious scandal was to create a crisis to be used as motivation to pass more gun control laws.
http://nypost.com/2016/05/21/the-scandal-in-washington-no-one-is-talking-about/
http://nypost.com/2016/05/21/the-scandal-in-washington-no-one-is-talking-about/