Why are the feds loading up on so much ammo? 79 Comments By Andrew Malcolm Posted 02/

[Beco]

Why are the feds loading up on so much ammo?

By Andrew Malcolm
Posted 02/08/2013 09:02 AM ET

Read More At IBD: Why are the feds loading up on so much ammo? by Andrew Malcolm -

In a puzzling, unexplained development, the Obama administration has been buying and storing vast amounts of ammunition in recent months, with the Department of Homeland Security just placing another order for an additional 21.6 million rounds.

Several other agencies of the federal government also began buying large quantities of bullets last year. The Social Security Administration, for instance, not normally considered on the frontlines of anything but dealing with seniors, explained that its purchase of millions of rounds was for special agents' required quarterly weapons qualifications. They must be pretty poor shots.
But DHS has been silent about its need for numerous orders of bullets in the multiple millions. Indeed, Examiner writer Ryan Keller points out Janet Napolitano's agency illegally redacted information from some ammunition solicitation forms following media inquiries.

According to one estimate, just since last spring DHS has stockpiled more than 1.6 billion bullets, mainly .40 caliber and 9mm. That's sufficient firepower to shoot every American about five times. Including illegal immigrants.

To provide some perspective, experts estimate that at the peak of the Iraq war American troops were firing around 5.5 million rounds per month. At that rate, DHS is armed now for a 24-year Iraq war.

The perceived need for so much ammunition in federal custody is especially strange given Obama's double-barreled emphasis in his inaugural address on the approaching end in Afghanistan "of a decade of war." And he also noted, "We, the people, still believe that enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual war."

The lack of a credible official explanation for such awesome ammunition acquisitions is feeding all sorts of conspiracy theories, mainly centered on federal anticipation of some kind of domestic insurrection. Napolitano has at times alluded to threats from the extreme right-wing.

Other conspiracists harken back to an Obama Colorado campaign speech in July, 2008. That day he deviated from his prepared text to say:
"We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."


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[KyleW]

I only came into this thread for the 79 comments. What a letdown.

 

[koalabear]

Nothing to see here. Keep on moving, the next DHS checkpoint will explain everything.

 

[Beco]

I only came into this thread for the 79 comments. What a letdown.

is kind of a let-down

 

[Bert Notorius]

add 2,700 Light-Armored tanks to that shopping list. it's and end run around posse comitatus.

 

[Ishmael]

add 2,700 Light-Armored tanks to that shopping list. it's and end run around posse comitatus.

Perhaps.

Adding to the conspiracy theories, just for the hell of it, what if there were some plan in place to somehow cripple the manufacture of ammunition? It would make sense to stockpile as much as was possible in that instance, wouldn't it?

Ishmael

 

[unregistered]

 

[phrodeau]

Here is your "lack of a credible explanation".

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/...in-stockpiling-bullets-claim-88179.html?hp=r3

 

[Bert Notorius]

Perhaps.

Adding to the conspiracy theories, just for the hell of it, what if there were some plan in place to somehow cripple the manufacture of ammunition? It would make sense to stockpile as much as was possible in that instance, wouldn't it?

Ishmael

there's a lot of weird shit going on and you can't depend on the media to look into any of it. the fed has to keep that tax revenue stream coming in at all cost.

 

[BotanyBoy]

2x post..lit lag

 

[BotanyBoy]

Big Sis is probably thinking about all of those angry white guys, war vets, and home grown terrorists she has to kill to help Obama bring about Leviathan. He'll be able to effect a much more equitable re-distribution of their wealth when they're gone.

There is a reason everyone who has advanced training in combative's, marksmanship (esp snipers every single one of them is on a shit list I gay-ron-tee), explosives (same with sappers), guerrilla/urban warfare/QCB gun/knife fighting, underwater demo, SERE school...if you were a Major League Infidel.....your name goes on the gubbmint shit list and you are a suspected enemy of the state before your DD214 is dry.

They skurrd.....I got the message loud and clear....

 

[Ishmael]

The ammo they're stockpiling is all handgun/subgun ammo. (Someone forgot to mention the massive purchases the IRS made a few years ago as well.) Just the sort of stuff you'd want to be able to distribute to the various police depts. in the event of a severe nationwide ammo shortage.

The US Military has their ass covered. 80% of their small arms ammo., up to and including .50 cal., comes out of the Lake City plant with the remaining balance filled by Canadian, S. Korean, and Israeli manufacturing plants. (Olin/Winchester has an incredibly small piece of that pie.)

Ishmael

 

[mercury14]

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YRHDomoLb-A/TLa17o31c7I/AAAAAAAAAj0/W9HKa0hXem4/s1600/tin_foil_hat.jpg

 

[Ishmael]

Once again Merc the Derp comes through with a well thought out post.

As an aside, DHS also has a solicitation out for the purchase of 12 MacLellan Bagpipes made from African Blackwood. (Solicitation #20071227) Apparently they plan on advancing in good order.

Ishmael

 

[mercury14]

Once again Merc the Derp comes through with a well thought out post.

As an aside, DHS also has a solicitation out for the purchase of 12 MacLellan Bagpipes made from African Blackwood. (Solicitation #20071227) Apparently they plan on advancing in good order.

Ishmael

The premise of this thread is some paranoid suspicion that the Federal government is loading up on ammo to start killing Americans. If you want to complain about positions that are not well thought out then you need to nail Beco and the rest of the conservative blogosphere that's promoting this tin foil hat crap.

Then if you have anything left come back and tell me I was wrong.

 

[Ishmael]

The premise of this thread is some paranoid suspicion that the Federal government is loading up on ammo to start killing Americans. If you want to complain about positions that are not well thought out then you need to nail Beco and the rest of the conservative blogosphere that's promoting this tin foil hat crap.

Then if you have anything left come back and tell me I was wrong.

When the govt. can provide NO legitimate explanation for such massive ammo purchases by depts. that have no legitimate need for such massive purchases then any one explanation is as good as any other explanation.

Why does the IRS need to stockpile massive ammo quantities and purchase large numbers of SWAT style shotguns?

Why does the US Forest Service require those same style shotguns? Or the Dept. of Education????????

And exactly who's paranoid here? The purchasers or those wondering why those purchases are necessary to begin with?

Ishmael

 

[ryan8558]

Once again Merc the Derp comes through with a well thought out post.

As an aside, DHS also has a solicitation out for the purchase of 12 MacLellan Bagpipes made from African Blackwood. (Solicitation #20071227) Apparently they plan on advancing in good order.

Ishmael

Will we be issuing work visas to Scottish immigrants to play the damned things?

 

[Ishmael]

Will we be issuing work visas to Scottish immigrants to play the damned things?

Either that or we'll soon see a solicitation for bagpipe lessons.

Ishmael

 

[Ishmael]

Of course there is yet another explanation, equally as onerous and disgusting. And this has to do with how the government spends the public's money and baseline budgeting.

Each government agency receives X amount of dollars each year for operations. Any unspent monies are returned to the treasury at the end of the fiscal year. This returned monies MAY have the effect of altering the next years appropriations for that agency. (Obviously not under the current 'continuing resolution' process that the government is operation under, but that can change and old habits die hard.) So each year there is a scramble by the various agencies to spend every single penny allocated. In the case where there is a projected surplus of dollars at the end of the fiscal year many of the agencies engage in what can only be called 'creative purchasing.' Each agency wants to make certain that they end the year with 0 balance on the books so as to bolster the argument that they need even more dollars for the coming fiscal year.

So all of these nonsensical purchases, of which guns and ammo are but a part, may be nothing more than the government agencies pissing away the public's money this year so they will have even more money to piss away next year.

The problem, of course, is that these nonsensical purchases become part of an ongoing program that the taxpayer must support ad infinitum.

Ishmael

 

[mercury14]

When the govt. can provide NO legitimate explanation for such massive ammo purchases by depts. that have no legitimate need for such massive purchases then any one explanation is as good as any other explanation.

Why does the IRS need to stockpile massive ammo quantities and purchase large numbers of SWAT style shotguns?

Why does the US Forest Service require those same style shotguns? Or the Dept. of Education????????

And exactly who's paranoid here? The purchasers or those wondering why those purchases are necessary to begin with?

Ishmael

So if you don't know why the US government is doing something then it makes sense to assume they're plotting to slaughter people? When you can't figure out why something happened, well then it's time to sign on to the nearest Sarah Palin conspiracy theory, eh Ish?

You're paranoid. This factually proves it.

So does this.

 

[phrodeau]

The bagpipes are for the TSA to play in airports for the people in line. Music helps reduce stress.

 

[mercury14]

The bagpipes are for the TSA to play in airports for the people in line. Music helps reduce stress.

The problem the anti-government gun nuts have is that they need there to be a US government that's about to invoke holocaust upon its people. So they create one in their own heads. Otherwise they have to face the fact that they're a bunch of paranoid weirdos living in fear of things that don't exist.

 

[ryan8558]

I get it now. Because we're not suffering enough in the gulags, as they march us to the ovens they'll force us to listen to bagpipe music.

Oh the humanity!!!

 

[Ishmael]

So if you don't know why the US government is doing something then it makes sense to assume they're plotting to slaughter people? When you can't figure out why something happened, well then it's time to sign on to the nearest Sarah Palin conspiracy theory, eh Ish?

You're paranoid. This factually proves it.

So does this.

It proves nothing, nothing at all...........LT

It's sad when you see morons not merely drinking the Koolaid, but asking for seconds.

Everything the government does should be eyed with suspicion. The US government, like every government that has ever been, has violated significantly more of the promises it has made the citizens than it has kept.

Further, moron, if you bother to read the thread carefully it will become obvious to you that I didn't subscribe to the 'kill the populace' notion, rather I've offered two alternatives, alternatives that, apparently, you have neither the wit nor the inclination to discuss. Rather you'd prefer to stick with your mantra of ridicule while offering up NO explanations of your own and for that reason I'm forced to assume that you've bought into the governments lame explanation.

Throughout this thread you have had nothing to say whatsoever and I would suggest to you that if you have nothing to say, say nothing. It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool rather than to speak and remove all doubt.

Ishmael

 

[mercury14]

Everything the government does should be eyed with suspicion. The US government, like every government that has ever been, has violated significantly more of the promises it has made the citizens than it has kept.

There's no reason to view the government with suspicion that it's getting ready to massacre us. There's just not.

Further, moron, if you bother to read the thread carefully it will become obvious to you that I didn't subscribe to the 'kill the populace' notion, rather I've offered two alternatives, alternatives that, apparently, you have neither the wit nor the inclination to discuss.

And you'd have a point if you didn't also say that the government pogrom theory "was as good an explanation as any".

Rather you'd prefer to stick with your mantra of ridicule while offering up NO explanations of your own and for that reason I'm forced to assume that you've bought into the governments lame explanation.

I read the responses from the appropriate government agencies and linked you to them. My own thought and explanation is that there's absolutely nothing interesting or remarkable here.

You're free to call the government's explanation lame but the fact is you still haven't presented a shred of evidence to back any of your theories. When you actually back one of your claims I'll listen to it.

*shrug*