According to that hot-bed of anti-war sentiment, Forbes magazine, the Department of Homeland Security has issued a purchase order for 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition. Yes, that’s billion. To give you an idea of how much that is, at the worst of the Iraq war, we were expending less than 6 million rounds of ammo a month, so 1.6 billion rounds would be enough to cover a war hotter than the Iraq war for over 20 years.
But here’s the weird part. This is the Department of Homeland Security we are talking about. So that would be a war fought on the streets of America. What are they doing? Preparing for a coup d’etat? I sure hope not.
DHS is also acquiring heavily armored personnel carriers, although these are leftovers from the Iraq and Afghan wars.
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Maybe the gun nuts are right?
Please read Eric Holder latest response to Rand Paul:
“Does the president have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on U.S. soil?” Holder’s letter reads. “The answer to that is no.”
So drones will not be used at least.
Maybe they read on the Internet that Obama is going to take our guns away.
It’s a bogus story: http://www.snopes.com/politics/guns/ssabullets.asp
I’ve been hearing it on right wing talk radio for several days. The gun nuts are still just nuts.
Whenever I read something from a right wing source (and Forbes now clearly is one) that sounds unlikely or unreasonable, then a bit of fact checking is due.
In this case Forbes is uncritically repeating a story the Denver Post ran from an Associated Press article. Wonder why they didn’t just print the AP story?
And as Robert wrote, it’s bogus as reported. The Associated Press article actually says:
Published federal notices about the ammo buy have agitated conspiracy theorists since the fall. That’s when conservative radio host Alex Jones spoke of an “arms race against the American people” and said the government was “gearing up for total collapse, they’re gearing up for huge wars.”
The government’s explanation is less sinister. Federal solicitations to buy the ammo are known as “strategic sourcing contracts,” which help the government get a low price for a big purchase, says Peggy Dixon, spokeswoman for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Ga. The training center and others like it run by the Homeland Security Department use as many as 15 million rounds every year, mostly on shooting ranges and in training exercises.
FactCheck.org says this:
Even the National Rifle Association had come out to squash conspiracies over DHS’ ammunition purchases, saying that the suggestion that Obama was “preparing for a war with the American people” displays “a lack of understanding of the law enforcement functions carried about by officers in small federal agencies.”
Here’s the NRA Statement
As most gun owners will agree, skepticism of government is healthy. But today, there are more than enough actual threats to the Second Amendment to keep gun owners busy. With two key Supreme Court decisions hanging by a one-vote margin, the Justice Department deeply involved in a cover-up of a disastrous Mexican gun smuggling operation, and President Obama touting a ban on popular semi-automatic firearms, there is no need to invent additional threats to our rights.
Ironic, isn’t it, that a Political Irony Site is uncritically repeating right wing political propaganda
Things are always cheaper when purchased in bulk.
According to http://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2012/apr/30/chain-email/chain-email-says-homeland-security-purchasing-many/
ATK has been awarded an “Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quality” agreement from Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement for .40 caliber ammunition. “This contract features a base of 12 months, includes four option years, and will have a maximum volume of 450 million rounds,” the release says. It adds that ATK already was supplying such ammunition.
On its website, the Georgia-based center says it trains law officers for 90 federal agencies and also officers in state, local, tribal, and international law enforcement. Chandler said that in the 12 months through September 2011, over 11,000 students at the center fired over 11 million rounds of .40 caliber ammunition, primarily in basic training.
Chandler said earlier that Homeland Security oversees more than 135,000 weapons-carrying officers.
Our calculation: If those officers go through all the possible 450 million rounds at the same rate each over five years — admittedly, an unlikely balance — each officer will have used about 667 bullets a year.
Actually, given the number of gun-toting crazies who’ve sworn to either “succeed” or require the government to take their weapons from their “cold, dead fingers” if any attempt is made to implement reasonable regulation on their supposed “right” to own firepower conceded only to police and the military anywhere else in the world, this may be simple prudence.
On this one someone said it above qidam and B. This number may be correct but it’s a long term contract and the statement is out of context. Each armed officer in DHS must qualify with all their assigned weapons at a minimum of 4 times per year. There are also other specialized training events (urban assault tactics, quick response teams, etc) that require great additional regular training and qualification. I’m not sure of the number, but if B is correct and their are 135,000 armed officers executing this type of training annually then over a ten year period you can burn up alot of ammo. Not to mention the rounds help for actual operations.
These scare tactics used by both sides get kinda annoying and apparantly not everone can see through the ridiculousness.
I am not so sure this is a plot by the government as much a defensive action. With all the anti-government rhetoric being slung around, the “militias” popping up with manifestos about killing police officers and government employees could this be an action to prepare for civil unrest?
I, for one, can see them being worried about all the stockpiling of weapons and ammo on the right, a group being stirred up by talk radio and FOX news, with only one goal, to overthrow a president they have been lied to and led to believe was any number of “anti-american” talking points.