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Conspiracy Crowd Fearful of Government Ammo Buys
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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