Hunger Games and the Acquisition by Federal Agencies of Millions of Rounds of Ammunition: Will an Armed Federal Workforce be in Open Civil War with America’s Citizenry?
US Postal Service Joins in Federal Ammo Purchases
April 15, 2014
Newsmax - Add the U.S. Postal Service to the list of federal agencies seeking to purchase what some Second Amendment activists say are alarmingly large quantities of ammunition.
Earlier this year, the USPS posted a notice on its website, under the heading "Assorted Small Arms Ammunition," that says: "The United States Postal Service intends to solicit proposals for assorted small arms ammunition. If your organization wishes to participate, you must pre-register. This message is only a notification of our intent to solicit proposals."
Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Washington-based Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, said: "We're seeing a highly unusual amount of ammunition being bought by the federal agencies over a fairly short period of time. To be honest, I don't understand why the federal government is buying so much at this time."
Jake McGuigan, director of state affairs and government relations for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, said widely reported federal ammunition purchases have sparked conspiracy-type fears among gun owners, who worry that the federal government is trying to crack down on Second Amendment rights via the back door by limiting the ammo available to owners.
It's not just the USPS that is stocking up on ammo.
A little more than a year ago, the Social Security Administration put in a request for 174,000 rounds of ".357 Sig 125 grain bonded jacketed hollow-point" bullets.
Before that, it was the Department of Agriculture requesting 320,000 rounds. More recently, the Department of Homeland Security raised eyebrows with its request for 450 million rounds — at about the same time the FBI separately sought 100 million hollow-point rounds.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also requested 46,000 rounds.
Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, asked: why exactly does a weather service need ammunition?
"NOAA — really? They have a need? One just doesn't know why they're doing this," he said. "The problem is, all these agencies have their own SWAT teams, their own police departments, which is crazy. In theory, it was supposed to be the U.S. marshals that was the armed branch for the federal government."
Armed federal employees are often assigned to offices of investigative services, the offices of inspectors general, or other equally bureaucratic agencies.
For instance, regular Internal Revenue Service agents aren't equipped with on-the-job guns — but those affiliated with the agency's Criminal Investigations Division are.
The same goes for workers with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, with the Department of Agriculture's Office of Inspector General, and with the Department of Education's Office of Inspector General.
The Energy Department, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Commerce Department, and the U.S. Agency for International Development are a few of the federal entities that boast an armed division, tasked with investigating fraud and suspected criminal activities. As such, the agents get to carry guns.
"Most of these agencies do have their own police forces," said Jim Wallace, executive director of the Massachusetts-based Gun Owners' Action League.
That, perhaps more than federal ammunition purchases, is the larger issue, he suggested, and Van Cleave agreed.
"What's the need for that? Do we really need this? That was something our Founding Fathers did not like and we should all be concerned about," Van Cleave said, speaking of the expansion of police forces throughout all levels of government.
The Department of Homeland Security employs in its various law enforcement entities — from the Coast Guard to the Secret Service to Customs and Border Protection — more than 200,000 workers, an estimated 135,000 of whom are authorized to carry weapons. When the agency makes its ammo buys, it often does so over the course of several years.
"We realize that the House is still investigating the ammo purchases by the administration, but from what we've seen so far, most representatives don't seem alarmed," said Erich Pratt, communications director for Gun Owners of America.
"For example, [Georgia Republican] Rep. Lynn Westmoreland said that given all the agencies that the Department of Homeland Security purchases for, "450 million rounds really is not that large of an order," Pratt said.
McGuigan acknowledged that there was a scarcity of ammo but attributed it more to a rise in purchases by individuals.
The Obama administration's stated desire to scale back gun rights drove more in the private sector to purchase firearms — which in turn fueled ammunition sales, McGuigan said.
"Over the last few years, there's been a tremendous increase in gun ownership, [with] many more females," McGuigan said. "I think a lot of people need to be aware of what's happening, and what the federal agencies are doing. I don't think, though, they need to be overly concerned that there's not going to be any ammo left."
But the notion of the Obama administration's using backdoor means to scale back gun ownership — a move that's hardly been kept secret — doesn't seem that outlandish to some.
"I don't believe in conspiracy theories, but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense," Gottlieb said. "The amount of ammunition they're buying up far exceeds their needs. It far exceeds what they'll use — they'll never use it all."
WhiteOutPress - The accusations and denials over massive government ammunition purchases have gotten so widespread and contentious that even Congress has entered the action. Indeed, these billion-round bullet acquisitions for agents who wear suits, work in office buildings and never fire their arms on duty, is curious even if authorities insist nothing’s out of the ordinary. Even more curious are Homeland Security’s conflicting facts.
There are two opposite schools of thought regarding federal government ammunition purchases over the past few years.
Ammunition stockpiling confirmed, reasons unknown
Data and statistics from various sources clearly show that the combined purchases of bullets by the dozens of secret and not-so-secret federal agencies has more than doubled from the Bush administration to the Obama administration. As far back as August 2012, we at Whiteout Press documented that debate with the article, ‘History of DHS Ammunition Purchases’.
While DHS and its backers in the firearms community continue to site false statistics claiming both DHS and federal ammunition stockpiling and purchases are not true, it seems Homeland Security officials reversed those claims when called to testify under oath before a Congressional Committee. Last week, federal officials confirmed an Associated Press report showing that the Dept of Homeland Security was planning to purchase 1.2 billion rounds of hollow-point bullets, just for its sub-agency alone.
As detailed by Associated Press and RT News, that’s a far cry from the 70 million rounds the DHS notified the General Accounting Office of just four months ago. Not only that, the DHS official told Congress that the Department now had an army of 100,000 armed domestic soldiers. That’s 30,000 more than DHS admitted to in the same GAO documentation. When asked what DHS planned to do with all that ammunition, officials refused to say other than insist it was for training.
Martial Law or cutting gun violence
Some Congressmen insist there is no reason to believe the federal ammunition stockpiling has anything to do with impending Martial Law plans. Instead, Congressmen like Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK) and Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) believe the effort by the various Executive Branch agencies is a secret plot led by President Obama to cut gun violence in America’s cities by creating a shortage of ammunition.
The Senate sponsor of the Bill just introduced to stop DHS and other agencies from stockpiling ammunition, Sen. Inhofe, released a statement explaining his concerns,
Bloomberg confirms ammunition stockpiling
Another news outlet that jumped on the subject two weeks ago was Bloomberg News, an outlet owned by the undisputed number one gun control fanatic in America - Michael Bloomberg. Even Bloomberg News confirmed the DHS and federal munitions stockpiling and even verified that DHS did in fact seek bids for 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition, just for that agency alone.
Bloomberg News also re-reported the still-viral revelation that federal agencies like the Social Security Administration, the Department of Agriculture, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and even the US Postal Service are purchasing large quantities of small arms ammunition. But the publication was quick to quote officials insisting the hundreds of millions of very expensive hollow point bullets were simply for training.
The news outlet quoted USPS spokesman Dave Partenheimer attempting to halt the ever-growing fear of an armed federal workforce in open civil war with America’s citizenry.
Unfortunately, while we know there are approximately 1,200 armed US Postal Inspectors, the agency’s public notice of intent to purchase large amounts of various small arms ammunition didn’t include any quantities. It was merely an invitation to manufacturers and distributors to register with the USPS as a munitions supplier.
It seems the conclusion of our Whiteout Press investigation is that while there may be a conspiracy, it’s no theory - the US federal government is purchasing and hoarding large quantities of small arms ammunition. And the fact that dozens of agencies that have no reason to be heavily armed are arming themselves to the teeth, and the fact that agencies like DHS are contradicting their own numbers, both lend credence to the fears that something unusual is going on. What that ‘something’ might be remains to be seen.
Editor's Note: For a possible explanation to why federal agencies are purchasing millions of rounds of ammo, see Hunger Games and Executive Order 13603: National Defense Resources Preparedness - the agencies purchasing ammo are also members of the Defense Production Act Committee, which was formed as a result of executive order 13603. EO 13603 gives an unprecedented level of authority to the President and the federal government to take over all the fundamental parts of our economy - in the name of national security - in times of national emergency. This means all of our water resources, construction services and materials (steel, concrete, etc.), our civil transportation system, food and health resources, our energy supplies including oil and natural gas - even farm equipment - can be taken over by the President and his cabinet secretaries. The Government can also draft U.S. citizens into the military and force U.S. citizens to fulfill "labor requirements" for the purposes of "national defense." There is not even any Congressional oversight, only briefings are required.
Newsmax - Add the U.S. Postal Service to the list of federal agencies seeking to purchase what some Second Amendment activists say are alarmingly large quantities of ammunition.
Earlier this year, the USPS posted a notice on its website, under the heading "Assorted Small Arms Ammunition," that says: "The United States Postal Service intends to solicit proposals for assorted small arms ammunition. If your organization wishes to participate, you must pre-register. This message is only a notification of our intent to solicit proposals."
Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Washington-based Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, said: "We're seeing a highly unusual amount of ammunition being bought by the federal agencies over a fairly short period of time. To be honest, I don't understand why the federal government is buying so much at this time."
Jake McGuigan, director of state affairs and government relations for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, said widely reported federal ammunition purchases have sparked conspiracy-type fears among gun owners, who worry that the federal government is trying to crack down on Second Amendment rights via the back door by limiting the ammo available to owners.
It's not just the USPS that is stocking up on ammo.
A little more than a year ago, the Social Security Administration put in a request for 174,000 rounds of ".357 Sig 125 grain bonded jacketed hollow-point" bullets.
Before that, it was the Department of Agriculture requesting 320,000 rounds. More recently, the Department of Homeland Security raised eyebrows with its request for 450 million rounds — at about the same time the FBI separately sought 100 million hollow-point rounds.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also requested 46,000 rounds.
Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, asked: why exactly does a weather service need ammunition?
"NOAA — really? They have a need? One just doesn't know why they're doing this," he said. "The problem is, all these agencies have their own SWAT teams, their own police departments, which is crazy. In theory, it was supposed to be the U.S. marshals that was the armed branch for the federal government."
Armed federal employees are often assigned to offices of investigative services, the offices of inspectors general, or other equally bureaucratic agencies.
For instance, regular Internal Revenue Service agents aren't equipped with on-the-job guns — but those affiliated with the agency's Criminal Investigations Division are.
The same goes for workers with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, with the Department of Agriculture's Office of Inspector General, and with the Department of Education's Office of Inspector General.
The Energy Department, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Commerce Department, and the U.S. Agency for International Development are a few of the federal entities that boast an armed division, tasked with investigating fraud and suspected criminal activities. As such, the agents get to carry guns.
"Most of these agencies do have their own police forces," said Jim Wallace, executive director of the Massachusetts-based Gun Owners' Action League.
That, perhaps more than federal ammunition purchases, is the larger issue, he suggested, and Van Cleave agreed.
"What's the need for that? Do we really need this? That was something our Founding Fathers did not like and we should all be concerned about," Van Cleave said, speaking of the expansion of police forces throughout all levels of government.
The Department of Homeland Security employs in its various law enforcement entities — from the Coast Guard to the Secret Service to Customs and Border Protection — more than 200,000 workers, an estimated 135,000 of whom are authorized to carry weapons. When the agency makes its ammo buys, it often does so over the course of several years.
"We realize that the House is still investigating the ammo purchases by the administration, but from what we've seen so far, most representatives don't seem alarmed," said Erich Pratt, communications director for Gun Owners of America.
"For example, [Georgia Republican] Rep. Lynn Westmoreland said that given all the agencies that the Department of Homeland Security purchases for, "450 million rounds really is not that large of an order," Pratt said.
McGuigan acknowledged that there was a scarcity of ammo but attributed it more to a rise in purchases by individuals.
The Obama administration's stated desire to scale back gun rights drove more in the private sector to purchase firearms — which in turn fueled ammunition sales, McGuigan said.
"Over the last few years, there's been a tremendous increase in gun ownership, [with] many more females," McGuigan said. "I think a lot of people need to be aware of what's happening, and what the federal agencies are doing. I don't think, though, they need to be overly concerned that there's not going to be any ammo left."
But the notion of the Obama administration's using backdoor means to scale back gun ownership — a move that's hardly been kept secret — doesn't seem that outlandish to some.
"I don't believe in conspiracy theories, but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense," Gottlieb said. "The amount of ammunition they're buying up far exceeds their needs. It far exceeds what they'll use — they'll never use it all."
The Facts on DHS and Government Ammo Purchases (Excerpt)
May 8, 2014WhiteOutPress - The accusations and denials over massive government ammunition purchases have gotten so widespread and contentious that even Congress has entered the action. Indeed, these billion-round bullet acquisitions for agents who wear suits, work in office buildings and never fire their arms on duty, is curious even if authorities insist nothing’s out of the ordinary. Even more curious are Homeland Security’s conflicting facts.
There are two opposite schools of thought regarding federal government ammunition purchases over the past few years.
- The first is that these multi-billion-round acquisitions are normal and used by the hundreds of federal police agencies like the US Post Office, Social Security Administration, and even the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
- The other side of the debate is asserting that regardless of whether the government is hording the ammunition to create shortages or prepare for Martial Law, it still doesn’t change the fact that US federal agencies with no use for such quantities of bullets are buying them up for some reason.
Ammunition stockpiling confirmed, reasons unknown
Data and statistics from various sources clearly show that the combined purchases of bullets by the dozens of secret and not-so-secret federal agencies has more than doubled from the Bush administration to the Obama administration. As far back as August 2012, we at Whiteout Press documented that debate with the article, ‘History of DHS Ammunition Purchases’.
While DHS and its backers in the firearms community continue to site false statistics claiming both DHS and federal ammunition stockpiling and purchases are not true, it seems Homeland Security officials reversed those claims when called to testify under oath before a Congressional Committee. Last week, federal officials confirmed an Associated Press report showing that the Dept of Homeland Security was planning to purchase 1.2 billion rounds of hollow-point bullets, just for its sub-agency alone.
As detailed by Associated Press and RT News, that’s a far cry from the 70 million rounds the DHS notified the General Accounting Office of just four months ago. Not only that, the DHS official told Congress that the Department now had an army of 100,000 armed domestic soldiers. That’s 30,000 more than DHS admitted to in the same GAO documentation. When asked what DHS planned to do with all that ammunition, officials refused to say other than insist it was for training.
“They have no answer for that question,” US Rep. Timothy Huelskamp (R-KS) told media outlets after DHS Congressional testimony, “We’re going to find out.”Curious as to why domestic federal agencies are increasing ammunition purchasing at a time when our wars are over and the sequester forced mandatory spending cuts, Rep. Huelskamp provided his own suggestion to get to the truth,
“I say we don’t fund them until we get an answer.”Supporters of a recent House and Senate Bill to halt federal ammunition stockpiling point out that the amount of bullets DHS is purchasing is the same number that would be needed to fight more than two full Iraq Wars all over again.
Martial Law or cutting gun violence
Some Congressmen insist there is no reason to believe the federal ammunition stockpiling has anything to do with impending Martial Law plans. Instead, Congressmen like Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK) and Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) believe the effort by the various Executive Branch agencies is a secret plot led by President Obama to cut gun violence in America’s cities by creating a shortage of ammunition.
The Senate sponsor of the Bill just introduced to stop DHS and other agencies from stockpiling ammunition, Sen. Inhofe, released a statement explaining his concerns,
“President Obama has been adamant about curbing law-abiding Americans’ access and opportunities to exercise their Second Amendment rights. One way the Obama Administration is able to do this is by limiting what’s available in the market with federal agencies purchasing unnecessary stockpiles of ammunition.”One independent media outlet that has been crucified throughout the corporate media for being one of the first to expose federal ammunition stockpiling is Alex Jones’ Infowars. The controversial outlet has been proven correct time and time again regarding this particular scandal. They were right when they warned the Social Security was arming itself. And they were just proven correct again after their recent revelation that the US Postal Service is also buying enough ammunition to fight a war. The publication noted just two weeks ago that even the US Dept of Education is purchasing large amounts of ammunition.
Bloomberg confirms ammunition stockpiling
Another news outlet that jumped on the subject two weeks ago was Bloomberg News, an outlet owned by the undisputed number one gun control fanatic in America - Michael Bloomberg. Even Bloomberg News confirmed the DHS and federal munitions stockpiling and even verified that DHS did in fact seek bids for 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition, just for that agency alone.
Bloomberg News also re-reported the still-viral revelation that federal agencies like the Social Security Administration, the Department of Agriculture, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and even the US Postal Service are purchasing large quantities of small arms ammunition. But the publication was quick to quote officials insisting the hundreds of millions of very expensive hollow point bullets were simply for training.
The news outlet quoted USPS spokesman Dave Partenheimer attempting to halt the ever-growing fear of an armed federal workforce in open civil war with America’s citizenry.
“The US Postal Service is not hoarding ammunition,” Partenheimer said in a statement two weeks ago, “The Postal Service Inspection Service is a law enforcement agency and its Inspectors carry firearms which require ammunition. Periodically, the Inspection Service must purchase ammunition for activities like firearms training, required annual firing range qualifications and for duty. As the Postal Service’s primary law enforcement arm, the Inspection Service is a highly specialized, professional organization which performs investigative and security functions essential to a stable and sound postal system and the security of the US Mail. The Postal Inspection Service has a proud and successful record of fighting criminals who misuse postal services and products to defraud, endanger or otherwise threaten the American public.”If readers are curious about just how many Postal Inspectors there are compared to how many bullets the agency purchased, so were we. Because while the USPS spokesman conjures up images of postal inspectors fighting running gun battles with notorious gangsters between the wall of PO Boxes and the case with collector’s stamps, the fact is, postal inspectors could, and probably should, be doing their jobs without being armed.
Unfortunately, while we know there are approximately 1,200 armed US Postal Inspectors, the agency’s public notice of intent to purchase large amounts of various small arms ammunition didn’t include any quantities. It was merely an invitation to manufacturers and distributors to register with the USPS as a munitions supplier.
It seems the conclusion of our Whiteout Press investigation is that while there may be a conspiracy, it’s no theory - the US federal government is purchasing and hoarding large quantities of small arms ammunition. And the fact that dozens of agencies that have no reason to be heavily armed are arming themselves to the teeth, and the fact that agencies like DHS are contradicting their own numbers, both lend credence to the fears that something unusual is going on. What that ‘something’ might be remains to be seen.
Editor's Note: For a possible explanation to why federal agencies are purchasing millions of rounds of ammo, see Hunger Games and Executive Order 13603: National Defense Resources Preparedness - the agencies purchasing ammo are also members of the Defense Production Act Committee, which was formed as a result of executive order 13603. EO 13603 gives an unprecedented level of authority to the President and the federal government to take over all the fundamental parts of our economy - in the name of national security - in times of national emergency. This means all of our water resources, construction services and materials (steel, concrete, etc.), our civil transportation system, food and health resources, our energy supplies including oil and natural gas - even farm equipment - can be taken over by the President and his cabinet secretaries. The Government can also draft U.S. citizens into the military and force U.S. citizens to fulfill "labor requirements" for the purposes of "national defense." There is not even any Congressional oversight, only briefings are required.
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