Anyone who owns firearms and practices with them have noticed that over the last ten years an acute shortage of available ammunition has vexed the arms industry. America has always been the Arsenal of Democracy, but regardless of the number of firms making firearms and ammunition, the average citizen has had to resort to desperate efforts just to keep a steady inventory of ammunition to support normal target practice and hunting sports.
The reason has been the US Federal Government. Now, thanks to the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, a government watchdog group named "OpenTheBooks" has uncovered the scope of the conspiracy. Ironic that one of the Senate sponsors of the FFATA of 2006 was then Senator Barack Obama, who at the time said, "I know that restoring transparency is not only the surest way to achieve results, but also to earn back the trust in government."
It's ironic because this grand scheme for the feds to corner the arms market started with Barack Obama's Presidential administration, and has continued unabated since. To read the raw report OpenTheBooks published, just call up: https://www.openthebooks.com/assets/1/6/Militarization_Report_v5.pdf
That report is eye-opening and detailed. What we see now are federal agencies lacking any legitimate law enforcement function stockpiling arms and ammunition. The list is wide and troubling.
NASA, that's right, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, has procured hundreds of sub-machine guns, with enough ammunition to fill a National Guard Armory building. The outlay for weapons and ammunition just between FY 2015 and 2019 has been $354,006.
Overall, our federal government has spent $2.66 trillion on arms and ammunition between 2006 to 2019, and that excludes all of the Department of Defense! The program accelerated since 2015, with the feds spending $944.9 million for arms and ammo. The number of different agents recently given arrest and firearm authority now exceeds 200,000 personnel. The entire US Marine Corps is just 182,000 personnel. If one adds up the entire 2020 defense spending for all NATO countries it would total just $1.03 trillion, less than half what non-defense US federal agencies have spent on arms and ammunition alone since 2006!
Egregious and questionable spending includes the Social Security Administration, which now owns 800,000 rounds to outfit 272 "special agents." That works out to an incredible 3,000 rounds per such SSA agent. The SSA's official statement justifies the existence of these special agents by saying, "Officers with the Office of Investigations investigate wrongdoing by applicants, beneficiaries, contractors, and third parties ... conduct joint investigations with other law enforcement agencies, and assist in the investigation of terrorism cases and other cases involving national security." One would think that investigating terrorism and threats to national security would be the work of the FBI or the Department of Homeland Security, either agency themselves stockpiling huge reserves of weapons and ammunition.
Since 2006, essentially any "use it or lose it" cash available just before the end of the fiscal year was allocated to fund a spending spree on arms and ammunition. But, also purchased were vast quantities of body armor, Kevlar helmets, and special night sights. The same federal government that wants to deny state and county law enforcement the option to receive surplus gear it desperately needs, instead intends to stockpile these items for agencies as lacking in legitimate law enforcement roles as The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Railroad Retirement Board, the National Science Foundation, the National Archives and Records Administration, the Federal Communications Commission, and the US Department of Agriculture. One never knows when an out of control ear of corn might need to get popped the old fashioned way!
The Environmental Protection Agency has purchased $61,650 in body armor, plus has on hand 867,000 rounds of ammunition to support 600 guns, all to equip just 137 so-called "special agents." That makes these EPA agents better equipped and armed than US Army Special Forces teams! Since when did polluted streams require arrest at gunpoint? Did the pollution get read their Miranda Rights first?
While the earnest left in America wish to defund the police, it would seem they care not a bit about a huge spending spree for weapons and ammo for agencies who's duties are supposed to be merely retirement of railroad employees, inspection of agricultural products, and medical care for military veterans. It must be those sharp pencils used in compiling labor statistics that requires the Bureau of Labor Statistics to keep on hand enough arms and ammo to outfit most NATO military forces.
Health and Human Services now owns 1,300 weapons, including five submachine guns and 189 automatic fire rifles. To feed these arms, HHS also owns more than four million rounds of ammunition. Who needs the Department of Defense any longer when it seems every single agency of the federal government has a stockpile of arms that literally exceeds the arsenals of several nations.
Of course, the practical effect of this near twenty year long arms spree is that citizens who are entitled with the right to bear arms find it increasingly expensive, it even possible, to keep their own arms properly outfitted with reasonable stockpiles of ammunition. The arms industry no doubt loves the financial largess of the world's largest federal government. But, there are many very serious concerns with this. The national debt is soaring to near $30 trillion and yet this needless lust for bullets and guns by agencies devoid of legitimate law enforcement and security duties continues on.
So, when we the people find our favorite ammunition sources devoid of any available stocks to purchase, we can ponder this effort by the feds to buy up all there is for sale. One must hand it to the left and their dutiful federal agencies. They may not be able to repeal the Second Amendment through actual Constitutional Amendment, but it seems they can sure try to buy it out!
-- Ken Stallings
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