Will the U.S. soon face a critical situation in which the federal government– primarily the Department of Homeland Security – possesses an ammunition surplus while local and state authorities face ammunition shortages and backlogs in purchasing more rounds?
Current trends could find the federal government with a strong ammunition advantage over local police and sheriff departments.
Earlier this week, a Georgia TV station reported that police officers training at the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office Gun Range were holding back on some live-range ammunition training due to shortage concerns.
Range Master Sgt. Ted Glisson told WSAV-TV in Savannah, “What we’ve incorporated is we’re doing more dry firing practice and this basically gets some people better suited to do what they need to when they come out here on the range.”
Dry firing is pulling the trigger but not firing a bullet.
Glisson said that while his unit currently had enough ammunition, he was concerned because “one of our suppliers was running short on what they had because there’s a mass – everybody’s trying to get a lot of ammunition and things like that.”
Similar reports are cropping up nationwide amid fears of a federal clampdown as the Obama administration continues to push gun legislation in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre.
Brownells, the largest supplier of firearm accessories in the world, reported it had sold several years’ worth of ammunition in just a matter of hours.
The company released a statement apologizing for the delay in fulfilling orders, explaining the it had experienced “unprecedented” demand for AR-15 ammunition magazines since earlier in the week.
CNS News reported police departments nationwide are experiencing ammunition shortages, referring to the online law enforcement website, PoliceOne.com
Sgt. Chris Forrester of the Greer Police Department in South Carolina told local TV-news channel WSPA: “It’s never easy to get ammo, but since the tragedy in Connecticut, it’s become even more difficult.”
Forrester explained the problem ordering ammunition began about a month ago.
“You’ll call and they say ‘sorry we’re out,’ or ‘it’s on back order,’” he said.
Chief Terry Sult of the Sandy Springs Police Department said: “It affects our ability to be prepared. It affects the potential safety of the officers, because they’re not as proficient as they should be.”
While local authorities scramble to fulfill future ammunition needs by turning to the same suppliers from which private gun owners purchase their rounds, the Department of Homeland Security reportedly maintains a large stock of ammunition.
Last March, DHS reportedly ordered 450 million rounds of .40 caliber ammunition, including hollow point bullets, from defense contractor ATK to be delivered over five years.
Hollow-point tip bullets are rarely used in training exercises. They are among the deadliest bullets, with the ability to pass through barriers and expand for a bigger impact without the rest of the bullet warping.
In April, Business Insider reported on an additional DHS request for 750 million more rounds for a total of at least 1.2 billion bullets. The 750 million is more than 10 times what U.S. troops used in a full year of Iraqi combat.
It was not immediately clear how many bullets were delivered to DHS.
In 2009, manufacturer Winchester posted an award to its site affirming it will deliver 200 million rounds to DHS over five years, serving as yet another order on top of others that may have already been partially fulfilled, as Business Insider noted.
DHS runs a large weapons training program at its Firearms Division replete with indoor and outdoor firing ranges, ammunition and weapons storage. Courses include a rifle-training program, precision rifle observer training program, reactive shooting instructor training program, submachine gun instructor training program and a survival shooting training program.
“That doesn’t make the most recent batch of 200,000 rounds seem out of line, but those billion or so rounds, seem like they could be better accounted [for],” commented Robert Johnson at Business Insider earlier this month.
With additional research by Joshua Klein
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/01/feds-to-hold-ammo-advantage-over-states/#f1ZzoUHISH8AzCZ2.99
http://www.wnd.com/2013/01/feds-to-hold-ammo-advantage-over-states/#RpCgaoyscwGVJUt8.99
Makes me think that that is the reason that a lot of these sherifs are all of a sudden being more supportive of gun ownership. After all now the police are experiencing a ammo shortage. These dirty cops just might not be so damned trigger happy now that their ammo supply is dwindling down and the people are stock pileing.
Do believe you are right Bro!…they do seem to be gettin more and more friendly…..real sudden like…huh?
Yep, you noticed that too eh, old vet, hawhawhaw. Ya gotta love it don`t ya – they are so dasterdly f`n stupid. Now all ya probobly need to get out of a ticket is a set of knee pads for the officer to suit up that pulls ya over, etc. ya know. In other words – we could all tell deputy dog to S*CK MY D*CK AND PUT ON THEM KNEE PADS. In my books though they can keep their hands and lips to them selves them dirty pigs.
One would think that the feds would rather have ammo than the local cops, especially since many sheriff’s have come out against the potential abuses of their local populations in the form of illegal gun laws.
We need to find out where all this ammo is being stored.
I smell a recon mission forming! Fella’s this is going to take a lot of people right now to gather this intel. I don’t know about anyone else, but I would like to know where these ammo caches are myself. Even if they would have to be blown to prevent the stormtroopers making use of it.
I have a sneaking suspicion it’s being stored in one or two of their DUMBs, unfortunately.
Those would be one tough nut to crack.
Maybe state and local police will get more ammo when they’re federalized.
yep or if they’re smart they’ll just take it off of a dead fed.
I am glad the tax parasite cops are running out of ammo and I do not believe it anyway. I hunt in a big state park and one day the troopers had a range there and I heard thousands of rounds go off for hours and hours it seemed like there was no pause. it must be nice when someone else pays for the ammo
There’s only one solution to this problem: Find the DHS ammo storage depot and raid it before they have a chance to use the ammo on us!
I second that motion
Yes, the feds have been planning this for a long time. They know there will be local governments that will stand by the 2nd amendment. Hope these ammo companies are patriot friendly. Someone needs to talk with them to see how they stand.
Police do not flirt back with TSA wankers at the airports either. The TSA knows who did 9-11, is looting Wall Street, who nuked Fukushima, and who intentionally blew out the Deepwater Horizon oil well (see U.S. Senate pdf.) and was pardoned by the Obummer, and they let these treasonous attackers and terrorists run free. They are therefore molesters and nothing else.