Should we laugh at how silly it all is, be upset, or write it off as simply more gun ignorance? Hard to say what to make of the new conspiracy theories bouncing around the media of late over ammunition orders by various federal agencies. At issue: Hollow-point handgun ammunition.
As FoxNews.com reported, “The bullet purchases drew widespread attention as the website Infowars.com published several stories on them that were linked off the widely read Drudge Report and other sites. Infowars.com catalogued a string of recent purchases-first by the Department of Homeland Security, then by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and then the Social Security Administration (SSA).”
In early August, for example, SSA posted a solicitation for a bid on ammunition. The agency needed to purchase 174,000 rounds of, “.357 Sig 125 grain bonded jacketed hollow point pistol ammunition.”
People who knew anything about firearms and law enforcement might have figured that SSA has investigators, who are armed, and therefore would need ammunition for their day-to-day work, plus for firearms training. (Turns out, SSA has 295 special agents around the nation, with full law enforcement powers. That is only 589 rounds for each agent, meaning those officers can't even fire 60 rounds a month for training.)
That didn't occur to the good folks at Infowars.com.
As an article on the Infowars.com website proclaimed, “It's not outlandish to suggest that the Social Security Administration is purchasing the bullets as part of preparations for civil unrest. Social Security welfare is estimated to keep around 40 per cent of senior citizens out of poverty. Should the tap run dry in the aftermath of an economic collapse which the Federal Reserve has already told top banks to prepare for, domestic disorder could ensue if people are refused their benefits.”
Infowars.com bills itself as, “the tip of the spear in alternative media – Infowars is on the front lines in the battle to reclaim our rights, dignity and our destiny by exposing the control freaks who seek to turn the globe into a prison planet.”
Uh-huh. But in one area Infowars.com is very similar to the mainstream media: They're both utterly ignorant about anything to do with firearms!
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You can tell some beureaucrat, knowing nothing about shooting, just ordered these cause ‘somebody’ said they were cool. 357sig(not so common) 40sw(more so). I tried to shoot a 40sw. Had a nice heavy frame pistol. Tauraus PT-101AF. I’ve shot 38’s, 357’s 45’s… so what could it do? After CTS, and total humiliation. It kicked my butt. I got rid of it. Me and 1911’s are just fine(got rid of the brace too). 357sig and 40sw are “hi-performance” loads. If you shoot them every day, and you can get really good. However any errors in your form, will be magnified when you fire. You can’t play the “don’t know where that shot went” with these. I don’t recall anything but 9mm for security and defense. I’ve seen them qualify. What a joke! And that was with 9’s… 40 I can see. 357sig? Now that scares me…….
Fox news and the msm downplayed the issue by not reporting the entire truth to the story. What they didn’t report regarding the government ammo purchased, was the total amount. They only mentioned the SSA’s purchase of 175k of hollow point ammo supposedly used for training purposes. Must be nice. Fact is that government documents show that in March 2012, DHS also acquired 450 million rounds of .40-caliber hp bullets. That was followed in August 2012 by another DHS solicitation asking for a further 750 million rounds of assorted bullets. That’s over a BILLION rounds folks. The military used less than 100 million for the recent wars in the middle east. Conspiracy theory? I think not. A reason to be concerned? Who knows. All I know is that’s more ammo purchased for training than the military used in 10 years of war. Media whitewash at best.
While the focus of the media discussion has been on the quantities purchased, I don’t think that is what has Americans worried. After all, a quick internet search reveals that the U.S. military can easily expend more than 5 million rounds per month during a campaign, and while that is war fighting, it should be remembered that the billion or so rounds DHS is looking for is to be acquired over a four to five year period.
No, the real concern that this has brought to the public’s attention is that every Federal regulatory agency from the FDA to the Department of Education has assembled its very own SWAT teams and a para military capability. Why? The operative word here is ‘regulatory’. These agencies were not intended to have law enforcement powers. In the past, they did their jobs peacefully, through the courts and in cooperation with local and state authorities. Now, we have no knock raids happening at dairy farms and private food co-ops over things as silly as raw milk and heritage pig breeds. This, in states where such products are LEGAL, and in cases where nothing crossed state lines. The last time I checked, the Commerce Clause really does have some limits.
Consider that, over the last three administrations, Posse Comitatus has been gutted, multiple Supreme Court orders have simply been ignored, the War Powers Act has been violated multiple times, the most comprehensive surveillance of citizens in our history has been implemented, Congress has authorized the electronic centralization of American’s personal information and been granted authority to regulate what we can and cannot purchase (Obamacare), and the latest administration has even claimed the authority to suspend Habeas Corpus, seize all private property and assets even in peace time, and assassinate private citizens at will. Is it really surprising that a large swath of the American public has become just a wee bit paranoid?
I would expect journalists at Gun Digest to address such serious topics with something more than a short, flippant article chalking it all up to ignorance.
Agreed, quiet_forest. I think GD completely missed the point here. A article in SWAT magazine pointed out many of the items you cited about the “war on food,” as they called it. If a magazine oriented toward elite law enforcement personnel is worried enough to write about raids on farms by agencies that oughtn’t be armed, we sure should be.