Posted on 06/24/2016 7:01:26 AM PDT by upchuck
There are now more non-military government employees who carry guns than there are U.S. Marines, according to a new report.
Open the Books, a taxpayer watchdog group, released a study Wednesday that finds domestic government agencies continue to grow their stockpiles of military-style weapons, as Democrats sat on the House floor calling for more restrictions on what guns American citizens can buy.
The “Militarization of America” report found civilian agencies spent $1.48 billion on guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment between 2006 and 2014. Examples include IRS agents with AR-15s, and EPA bureaucrats wearing camouflage.
“Regulatory enforcement within administrative agencies now carries the might of military-style equipment and weapons,” Open the Books said. “For example, the Food and Drug Administration includes 183 armed ‘special agents,’ a 50 percent increase over the ten years from 1998-2008. At Health and Human Services (HHS), ‘Special Office of Inspector General Agents’ are now trained with sophisticated weaponry by the same contractors who train our military special forces troops.”
Open the Books found there are now over 200,000 non-military federal officers with arrest and firearm authority, surpassing the 182,100 personnel who are actively serving in the U.S. Marines Corps.
The IRS spent nearly $11 million on guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment for its 2,316 special agents. The tax collecting agency has billed taxpayers for pump-action and semi-automatic shotguns, semi-automatic Smith & Wesson M&P15s, and Heckler & Koch H&K 416 rifles, which can be loaded with 30-round magazines.
The EPA spent $3.1 million on guns, ammo, and equipment, including drones, night vision, “camouflage and other deceptive equipment,” and body armor.
When asked about the spending, and EPA spokesman said the report “cherry picks information and falsely misrepresents the work of two administrations whose job is to protect public health.”
“Many purchases were mischaracterized or blown out of proportion in the report,” said spokesman Nick Conger. “EPA’s criminal enforcement program has not purchased unmanned aircraft, and the assertions that military-grade weapons are part of its work are false.”
“EPA’s criminal enforcement program investigates and prosecutes the most egregious violators of our nation’s environmental laws, and EPA criminal enforcement agents are law enforcement professionals who have undergone the same rigorous training as other federal agents,” Conger continued.
Other administration agencies that have purchased guns and ammo include the Small Business Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Education, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
The report also highlighted that the Department of Health and Human Services has “special agents” with “sophisticated military-style weapons.” Open the Books also found $42 million in gun and ammunition purchases that were incorrectly coded.
“Some purchases were actually for ping-pong balls, gym equipment, bread, copiers, cotton balls, or cable television including a line item from the Coast Guard entered as ‘Cable Dude,’” the report said.
Open the Books appealed to both liberals like Bernie Sanders—who has called for demilitarizing local police departments—and conservatives in its report.
“Conservatives argue that it is hypocritical for political leaders to undermine the Second Amendment while simultaneously equipping non-military agencies with hollow-point bullets and military style equipment,” Open the Books said. “One could argue the federal government itself has become a gun show that never adjourns with dozens of agencies continually shopping for new firearms.”
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Update June 23, 10:15 a.m.: Following publication of this article, Adam Andrzejewski, the CEO of Open the Books who wrote the report, pushed back against the EPA’s statement, and provided contract data to back up his claims.
“How can the EPA spokesperson deny hard facts from their own checkbook?” he said. “Alongside our oversight report, OpenTheBooks.com also released a PDF of all raw data. This line-by-line transactional record from the EPA’s own checkbook on page 113 clearly shows that in 2013 and 2014 the EPA purchased tens of thousands of dollars of ‘Unmanned Aircraft’ from Bergen RC Helicopters Inc which on a net basis amounted to approximately $34,000.”
“All of the assertions in our oversight report are the quantification of actual spending records produced and reported to us by the federal agencies themselves,” Andrzejewski said.
I agree. A couple years ago I read of the third(?) graduating group of Latinos as part of 0’s Civilian Def Force. They were all uniformed and equipped with HK MP5s.
Let us pray our weapons are never needed. One of the greatest tragedies is for war to come to your homeland.
I recall reading of very large gov ammo purchases. Must suspect they train. Imagine becoming part of an elite, untouchable class, by ‘just following orders’. History repeats.
It looks like the illegal enemy infiltrator in chief will have time run out on him before he can sic his new ss sa on us. Trump needs to disband these dangerous hordes including TSA and dhs -/ let local airports and fbi do their jobs again and we will all be much safer than with obama’s buffoonery
“And would we Freepers be visited if that night comes in America?”
They would if they could, they will if they can. Their data is incomplete at the moment. Freerepublic will NEVER be shut down by an enemy because it’s a direct portal into the plans of patriots. FR is of more value to our enemies than to us.
As of right now, we aren’t passing notes in alleys, meeting in basements or speaking in (Too much) code. If FR is gone then that is the next step. We’ll disappear.
Hey, look at the bright side; if we have to mobilize in a hurry, we can send all those crats to Paris Island. The ones who refuse or wash out, are fired.
Its one thing to have weapons and know how to employ them. Its completely another just to have them. I strongly suspect a large %age of these ‘armed bureaucrats’ woud get their toys taken and rear-ends kicked in a violent confrontation.
I know a few of these Bureaucrats personally. They were shocked when their departments demanded they start carrying a firearm. They had never “needed” it before.
Then they went to the range. Now they’re Republicans.
Careful what you wish for Lefties.
If Trump ever takes us to war, say against ISIS, we have 200,000 more troops on the books! They wanna play soldier, make them play it for real.
I’m willing to bet that these agencies DON’T have AR-15s, but that they actually have M-16s and M-4s. What’s the difference? The latter 2 look like ARs (or, rather, the other way around), but they are fully automatic.
The government gets full autos with no restrictions and no questions, but We The People have been effectively denied the same since 1934. The militia is composed of the people, and the authority of the government comes from the people - so why are the people denied the same hand-held weapons as our servants in government, BY that same government?
Time for a change, folks. We’ve been on the downward slope since at least the 1960s, and more of the same ain’t gonna fix it. We MUST elect Trump, a non-politician with a good message (”America first”) and 40+ years of accomplishment, to sweep this incompetent, statist goons from power, and to hold a lot of them accountable for their corruption and treason. Anyone who gives a damn about this country who doesn’t vote for Trump is simply enabling more of the same - they are no better than those who stood on the sidelines during the Revolutionary War.
The only thing worse than a tyrant who doesn’t keep his promises is a tyrant that does.
Gee. I wonder if they undergo rigorous background checks. If Omar Mateen was still around maybe we could aks him.
Another silver lining will be all the government surplus firearms that will go on sale when Trump ropes in this idiocy.
The bureaucrats instructed to consider conservatives as terrorists???
“And, you may know that the FBI had lengthy nation-wide arrest lists made up prior to Dec 7, 1941 and took prompt action during the days thereafter. “
Nope. There was no such “arrest list” in 1941. That was created during the cold war era in event of war with Russia.
You sound pretty confident, what is your authority for that?
Here is mine:
December 1941: 31 Days that Changed America and Saved the World Craig Shirley, P.X. Kelley
My mony is on the Marines. Semper Fi.
Most of us recall ammo shortages of several years ago. Popular ammo calibers were hard to come by as the Gov was buying up ammo.
Chilling
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