Yours is the most cogent reason, yet offered, for the purchases. While I hope I’m not being hopelessly optimistic, I feel your explanation is the most rational.
Then again, we are not exactly living in rational times these days, are we?
A perfectly reasonable motivation for wanting to replenish supplies was made clear to me last year when I spent a lot of time working in East L.A.
My distinct impression at the time was, “I don't want to be anywhere within a hundred miles of this place on the day the money for the electronic funds transfers for welfare payments to all of these peoples EBT cards runs out”.
That day may be coming sooner than later given the financial condition in California.
The rest of the country is not far behind.
Have a nice day :-).
I'm pretty sure the Communists have taken over LAZ. That is the most reasonable, most cogent, and most polite response on this thread.
Except it’s not true.
1) These are not purchases for LEOs, it’s for the national government.
2) As I and others have pointed out, local and state LEs practice on their own time and with their own ammo. Certification amounts to a couple hours on the range which can not possibly use up this amount of ammo. Others here have stated the same about the feds.
As entertaining as many of the theories are, I’m sticking with the mundane. A billion rounds is a 10-year supply for a reasonable number of armed agents practicing at a reasonable rate. That’s 50,000 agents practicing with 40 rounds per week for 10 years ... using a consumable which has 100+ year shelf life and always rising price, renewed availability after serious prolonged shortages, purchased at the “use it or lose it” end of a financial year, and facing the prospect of severe budget cuts limiting future acquisition thereof.
Given $10,000 in “use it or lose it” money, any here would just as quickly buy 20,000 rounds of premium. Same idea.
Not as exciting though.