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Offline mystery-ak

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US Postal Service Joins in Federal Ammo Purchases
« on: April 15, 2014, 12:44:08 pm »
http://www.newsmax.com/PrintTemplate.aspx/?nodeid=565541


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US Postal Service Joins in Federal Ammo Purchases
Monday, April 14, 2014 04:21 PM

By: Cheryl K. Chumley

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."
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Oceander

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Re: US Postal Service Joins in Federal Ammo Purchases
« Reply #1 on: April 15, 2014, 12:47:19 pm »
Don't forget that we, the people, overwhelmingly supported the PATRIOT Act when it was enacted, and now we're drinking the bitter lees of that foolish support.

Offline massadvj

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Re: US Postal Service Joins in Federal Ammo Purchases
« Reply #2 on: April 15, 2014, 01:52:16 pm »
One does not use hollow points for target practice.  Every single government-owned hollow point is intended to hit a human being with a lethal shot.  At this point they probably have enough of them to pump 30 or 40 rounds into every citizen.

Maybe they are stocking up in anticipation of price increases down the road?  A lead reserve instead of a gold reserve.  Will some future administration be dumping all this ammo back on the market?

Offline mountaineer

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Re: US Postal Service Joins in Federal Ammo Purchases
« Reply #3 on: April 15, 2014, 02:39:09 pm »
One does not use hollow points for target practice.  Every single government-owned hollow point is intended to hit a human being with a lethal shot.  At this point they probably have enough of them to pump 30 or 40 rounds into every citizen.
No matter how much ammo law-abiding gun owners may have accumulated, it still won't be enough to protect themselves or their families against such odds should the SHTF.
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Oceander

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Re: US Postal Service Joins in Federal Ammo Purchases
« Reply #4 on: April 15, 2014, 02:50:13 pm »
Things aren't quite as various conspiracy theories have made them out to be.  there's an article from 2013 written by a guy who used to be a cop and is now a professor of Professional Studies Department, Law and Public Policy/Homeland Security/Criminal Justice, at the California University of Pennsylvania, that gives a more prosaic explanation for agencies purchasing hollow points:  because the rounds expand on hitting a target, or anything else, they stop sooner and are less likely to penetrate what they hit and keep going, which makes it less likely that a bystander might be hit by a stray bullet.  According to this article the use of hollow point ammunition is standard for all major law enforcement agencies, with the NYPD being the last such to switch, which it did in 1999.  The article is here:  http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20130506-hollow-point-ammunition-is-more-effective-and-safer-to-use

Offline mountaineer

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Re: US Postal Service Joins in Federal Ammo Purchases
« Reply #5 on: April 15, 2014, 03:15:10 pm »
Still doesn't explain why NOAA or the Post Office is armed to the teeth.  :shrug:
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Offline Fishrrman

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Re: US Postal Service Joins in Federal Ammo Purchases
« Reply #6 on: April 16, 2014, 01:05:02 am »
Oceander wrote above:
[[ Don't forget that we, the people, overwhelmingly supported the PATRIOT Act when it was enacted, and now we're drinking the bitter lees of that foolish support. ]]

Speak for yourself.

"Some of us" didn't like it then, and don't like it now.

What was that remark, attritbuted to Ben Franklin....?

Offline jmyrlefuller

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Re: US Postal Service Joins in Federal Ammo Purchases
« Reply #7 on: April 16, 2014, 01:08:16 am »
One does not use hollow points for target practice.  Every single government-owned hollow point is intended to hit a human being with a lethal shot.  At this point they probably have enough of them to pump 30 or 40 rounds into every citizen.

Maybe they are stocking up in anticipation of price increases down the road?  A lead reserve instead of a gold reserve.  Will some future administration be dumping all this ammo back on the market?
Well, considering they also shut down the last virgin lead smelter in the country a few months ago, that isn't that far-fetched.
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Offline jmyrlefuller

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Re: US Postal Service Joins in Federal Ammo Purchases
« Reply #8 on: April 16, 2014, 01:10:57 am »
Still doesn't explain why NOAA or the Post Office is armed to the teeth.  :shrug:
I don't know if you have ever seen the movie Independence Day. It's a silly movie (although Bill Pullman makes an awesome President in it), but one of the points they make is that they funded a top-secret alien research wing by inflating costs of mundane items in the federal budget. So, perhaps the purchase of "ammo" is in fact a smokescreen to fund classified projects we know nothing about.
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Oceander

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Re: US Postal Service Joins in Federal Ammo Purchases
« Reply #9 on: April 16, 2014, 02:21:41 am »
Oceander wrote above:
[[ Don't forget that we, the people, overwhelmingly supported the PATRIOT Act when it was enacted, and now we're drinking the bitter lees of that foolish support. ]]

Speak for yourself.

"Some of us" didn't like it then, and don't like it now.

What was that remark, attritbuted to Ben Franklin....?

If you don't want to be part of "we, the people" then you'd better expatriate; otherwise, you're in the same boat with the rest of us.

Offline NavyCanDo

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Re: US Postal Service Joins in Federal Ammo Purchases
« Reply #10 on: April 16, 2014, 02:28:01 am »
I have no problem finding 9MM both in FMJ and JHP, but trying to find 22 LR for my 10-22 and my sons Cricket is nearly impossible for me here in my area of WA. Out of Stock on 22LR signs are quite common. When I do find something for sale it is lead round nose which I hate shooting, and you are limited to 2 boxes.
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Offline NavyCanDo

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Re: US Postal Service Joins in Federal Ammo Purchases
« Reply #11 on: April 16, 2014, 02:32:35 am »
Life imitates art!

If you have ever read the book, One second After you see how ammunition soon becomes more valuable than cash once the SHTF. Very valuable trade item in fact.  Now we may never have a EMP go off like in the book,(I pray not) but it does make you wonder why the stockpiling by federal agencies. 
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Oceander

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Re: US Postal Service Joins in Federal Ammo Purchases
« Reply #12 on: April 16, 2014, 02:34:31 am »
If you have ever read the book, One second After you see how ammunition soon becomes more valuable than cash once the SHTF. Very valuable trade item in fact.  Now we may never have a EMP go off like in the book,(I pray not) but it does make you wonder why the stockpiling by federal agencies.

I would think a good bow and the knowledge of how to make one's own arrows would be much more valuable in an end-times scenario; at that point ammo becomes a nonrenewable resource, arrows do not.

Offline ABX

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Re: US Postal Service Joins in Federal Ammo Purchases
« Reply #13 on: April 16, 2014, 02:36:01 am »
Still doesn't explain why NOAA or the Post Office is armed to the teeth.  :shrug:

The numbers described here isn't really 'to the teeth'. Amounts to a few hundred rounds per postal office. Enough to man a security guard or two and keep them qualified. Most of these controversial purchases have been business as usual for decades.

Offline NavyCanDo

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Re: US Postal Service Joins in Federal Ammo Purchases
« Reply #14 on: April 16, 2014, 04:14:15 am »
Still doesn't explain why NOAA or the Post Office is armed to the teeth.  :shrug:

Seen the price of stamps lately?  In that glass case of commemorative stamps lies fort Knox.
« Last Edit: April 16, 2014, 04:14:35 am by NavyCanDo »
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Re: US Postal Service Joins in Federal Ammo Purchases
« Reply #15 on: April 16, 2014, 09:06:33 am »
I would think a good bow and the knowledge of how to make one's own arrows would be much more valuable in an end-times scenario; at that point ammo becomes a nonrenewable resource, arrows do not.

Arrows are relatively easy. Cleave a log of the right length - usually 22 inches. A foot or hand powered lathe to trim it to the perfect round (you can do it by eye with a knife or spokeshave, but it's a lot trickier), slot for the head and two to 4 slots for the feathering. Feathering is easy - cut a pair of tail or pinion feathers from pretty much any bird in half along the quill, trim to length, and glue them in place. Arrowheads - you have a change jar. No need to cast heads when you have pennys, nickels and quarters just waiting to be filed to shape and sharpened.

Bows, on the other hand ....

A good compound bow takes about a year to make. I am talking a single curve, Mongol type - it has to sit in the forms for months. A longbow is quicker, if you have either yew or lemon available. Both woods that are incredibly hard to work, and balancing the two arms will still take you a couple of weeks.

Crossbow is a far better option.
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rangerrebew

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Re: US Postal Service Joins in Federal Ammo Purchases
« Reply #16 on: April 16, 2014, 10:32:57 am »
How and why does an agency that is financially destitute purchase ammunition?  I really have to wonder if the financing came from some outside group connected with, say, George Soros, if it is possible.