DHS Won't Answer Congress On Billion Bullet Purchase

Posted 03/22/2013 06:58 PM ET

IBD Editorial

Bullet Buys: Fifteen members of Congress have written a letter to the Department of Homeland Security demanding to know why the federal agency is buying so many rounds of ammunition. We'd like to know too.
Freshman California Republican Doug LaMalfa and 14 of his House colleagues, who signed on to his March 5 letter, are asking the Department of Homeland Security to explain why it is buying 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition of various calibers. They aren't happy with explanations provided so far in the press by lower-level officials, answers meant to debunk "unfounded" concerns.
As we have noted, DHS has been buying lots of ammo, enough by one calculation to fight the equivalent of a 24-year Iraqi War.
Peggy Dixon, spokeswoman for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Ga., told the Associated Press that the training center and others like it run by the Homeland Security Department use as many as 15 million rounds every year, mostly on shooting ranges and in training exercises.
The massive purchases are said to be spread out over five years and due simply to the best practice of saving money by buying in bulk what comes down to five rounds of ammo for every man, woman and child on the U.S. That's a lot of practice and training.
A good portion of the 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition are being purchased by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal government's second-largest criminal investigative agency. Yes that's the same ICE that is releasing detained criminal illegal aliens onto our streets because of sequestration cuts.
Jonathan Lasher, the Social Security Administration's assistant inspector general for external relations, explained the purchase of 174,000 hollow-point bullets by saying they were for the Social Security inspector general's office, which has about 295 agents who investigate Social Security fraud and other crimes.
When they say they're cracking down on waste, fraud and abuse, they apparently mean it.
However, as former Marine Richard Mason told reporters with WHPTV News in Pennsylvania recently, hollow-point bullets (which make up the majority of the DHS purchases) are not used for training because they are more expensive than standard firing range rounds .
"We never trained with hollow points, we didn't even see hollow points my entire 4-1/2 years in the Marine Corps," Mason said.
LaMalfa offers one theory that's less sinister than some: The federal government is simply trying to corner the market on ammo and restrict what's available to the American people as part of its gun control efforts.
"The extraordinary level of ammunition purchases made by Homeland Security seems to have, in states such as my own, created an extreme shortage of ammunition to the point where many gun owners are unable to purchase any," LaMalfa wrote in the letter.
While lower-level officials talk to the press, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano apparently doesn't want to tell Congress herself the reasons for these purchases.
"They have no answer for that question. They refuse answer that," Congressman Timothy Huelskamp (R-Kan.) told reporters recently, adding, "They refuse to let us know what is going on, so I don't really have an answer for that. Multiple members of Congress are asking those questions."
Homeland Security has acquired a number of Mine Resistant Armored Protection (MRAP) vehicles which have been retrofitted for possible service on the streets of the U.S. They were formerly used for counterinsurgency in Iraq. These vehicles are specifically designed to resist mines and ambush attacks.
As we noted in a recent editorial, DHS is also seeking to acquire 7,000 5.56-by-45-millimeter NATO "personal defense weapons" — also known as "assault weapons" when owned by civilians.
If there are plausible explanations for all this, some congressmen would like to hear them.
Maybe DHS can answer Congress' questions in a series of bullet points.