Posted on 04/21/2014 5:02:39 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
Does the Environmental Protection Agency really need armed agents? Outside of law enforcement, federal agencies now employ over 25,000 people as armed agents. They are more than guards. They’ve become like private armies that can push around private citizens.
Over 70 non-military federal agencies now have their own armed agents.
You expect armed agents with the FBI, the U.S. Marshal Service and the Border Patrol.
But the EPA? The Fish & Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, even the Social Security Administration and the National Institutes of Health? Even the Department of Education and the Department of Housing and Urban Development have their own armed agents.
As do the Food and Drug Administration. And Veterans Affairs. Even the Government Printing Office and the National Zoo. And of course the Library of Congress
Collectively, over 25,000 individuals now work as armed agents of federal agencies not usually associated with law enforcement.
These are not just guards. These agents go out on raids to enforce the orders of federal bureaucracies. No bureaucracy should have a private army to enforce its orders against the American people.
Meanwhile, we send our military personnel and Border Patrol Agents into harm’s way without ammunition or without authority to defend themselves.
This isn’t just an Obama thing, This began under Clinton and was continued under Bush and Obama. I remember when Clinton was in office and he authorized the poultry inspectors at the FDA to carry firearms on the job. What were they expecting? An armed revolt by the chickens?
Socialism always fails, always. The feral grubment won’t survive. The house of cards will fall. Just a matter of time.
A big part of my concern is from the fact that the LEOs at the Bundy Ranch seemed very much ready to open fire if so ordered.
Department of Education??
Consider all the recent stories of customer credit card numbers being stolen. Where is the NSA? Aren't they supposed to be snooping this kind of thing out?
Oh, that's right. They're not snooping on America's enemies. They're snooping on Americans!
-PJ
There is absolutely no constitutional authority for unelected federal bureaucracies to write laws binding the people or the states. And there is absolutely no constitutional authority for them to be armed against the people or the states.
All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
And their legislative powers only to those items enumerated and delegated to it by the constitution.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Mark Steyn pointed out in one of his recent articles that the Department of Education, which doesn’t employ a single teacher, does have its own SWAT army.
Oh, my yes. They're to "protect" the public against student loan fraud. These Guys
If it had happened to me I'd be inclined to open fire next time I even saw anyone in a SWAT getup. Might as well - not much to lose.
I believe they were testing the waters with the Bundy Ranch situation. I now expect there will be a even harder, and most likely as quiet as possible, push to disarm the American people.
See here ---> rule #8 of top ten gun safety tips.
Or see tagline same/same
25,000 Vs. how many millions? Another Waco and millions of Americans will die, and 25,000 of them armed federal agents. It will be bloody and ugly, but there will be no more federal agents, or agencies, or federal government.
I hope they continue to back down as the BLM folks did. War does not appeal to me.
This is Trouble, with a capital T
““Monkey see, monkey do” is a partial explanation. Or, maybe, pistol envy. But there’s also something else at work here.”
Budget justification, for the most part.
They lobby for the SWAT budget, and bury it deep in the request.
Then they have to justify the continued funding of it, year after year.
And ever notice, the two hundred federal agents with M-16s, swat gear, out to crush crime never seem to find their way to South Chicago?
Too busy going after a nice peaceful rancher.
Why not. In Los Angeles, the LAUSD has swat teams with MP5s. I personally saw them practicing. Full auto machine pistols for school police teams.
Those guys are dressed up as terrorists.
But did this start just under Obama? or has "armed agent creep" been going on for awhile?
Now would be a good time for Congress to review the necessity of armed agents in each of these agencies.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.