Subscriber Special: Federal Bureaucrats Buying Guns and Ammo 90_guns_and_ammo

October 20, 2017 11:00 AM
2016-08-08_12-27-132016-09-26_12-22-57
 
"After grabbing legal power, the feds are amassing firepower. It's time to scale back the federal arsenal."
Forbes | October 20, 2017
 
$158 million spent on guns and ammunition by non-military federal agencies (sunlight by OpenTheBooks.com)
 
 
 
Forbes_logo.svg
 

WHY ARE FEDERAL BUREAUCRATS BUYING GUNS AND AMMO? $158 MILLION SPENT BY NON-MILITARY FEDERAL AGENCIES

Published at Forbes

Read_Forbes_Editorial

 

We live in a dangerous world. 

Over a nearly two-year period, the last years of the Obama administration (FY2015 - FY2016), Homeland Security and the Department of Justice spent $138 million on new guns and ammunition. That seems reasonable.
 
What's curious, however, is that traditionally administrative agencies spent more than $20 million. Four notable examples:
 
1) The 2,300 Special Agents at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are allowed to carry AR-15's, P90 tactical rifles, and other heavy weaponry. Recently, the IRS armed up with $1.2 million in new ammunition. This was in addition to the $11 million procurement of guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment procured between 2006-2014.
 
2) The Small Business Administration (SBA) spent tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to load its gun locker with Glocks last year. The SBA wasn't alone - the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service modified their Glocks with silencers.

Read our Forbes editorial, Why Are Federal Bureaucrats Buying Guns and Ammo? $158 Million Spent by Non-Military Agencies.
 
3) The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has a relatively new police force. In 1996, the VA had zero employees with arrest and firearm authority. Today, the VA has 3,700 officers, armed with millions of dollars' worth of guns and ammunition including AR-15's, Sig Sauer handguns, and semi-automatic pistols.
 
4) Meanwhile, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agents carry the same sophisticated weapons platforms used by our Special Forces military warriors. The HHS gun locker is housed in a new "National Training Operations Center" - a facility at an undisclosed location within the DC beltway.

There's a lot more...  read about the Department of Education, Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency, Social Security Administration, and other federal administrative agencies purchasing guns and ammunition.

Last year, on the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal - Why Does the IRS Need Guns? -  in a co-authored piece with Dr. Tom Coburn, we launched our comprehensive oversight report. Read our oversight report here.

Today, we update the numbers on the rank-and-file federal agencies purchasing guns and ammunition at Forbes.

Read our Forbes editorial, Why Are Federal Bureaucrats Buying Guns and Ammo? $158 Million Spent by Non-Military Agencies.

Just who are the feds preparing to battle?
 
Guns_Ammo_DOE
 
 
It's Your Money. Join the Transparency Revolution!
Adam_A-2-e1285883429123 
 
 
Adam Andrzejewski (say: Angie-f-ski)
Founder and CEO, OpenTheBooks.com
Matthew Tyrmand
Deputy Director at Large
 
 
Please donate to OpenTheBooks today. It's a tax-deductible gift that holds the political class accountable across America.
 
Help OpenTheBooks today with a donation of $25, $50, $100, $250 or $500.
It's Your Money. Join The Transparency Revolution!
 
 
2015-11-04_14-17-38
 
STAY UP TO DATE WITH OPEN THE BOOKS!

 

JOIN THE TRANSPARENCY REVOLUTION AT OPENTHEBOOKS.COM
Back to news
Donate_Button_Red
Sign the Petition