Thread: Local law enforcement face ammo shortage as gun owners, DHS stock up

Local law enforcement face ammo shortage as gun owners, DHS stock up

Published March 23, 2013
FoxNews.com

Local law enforcement agencies across the country are facing an ammo shortage, as gun owners concerned about new laws at the federal and state level stock up on firearms and bullets.

At the same time, the Department of Homeland Security has said it wants to buy more than 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition in the next four or five years -- which could put further strain on the supply.

The shortage, coupled with an increase in prices, comes as many gun owners head to the stores in anticipation of new gun control laws. States like Colorado and New York have already approved such legislation, while Democrats move toward bringing a bill to the Senate floor. At the moment, the congressional bill does not include an assault-weapons ban, but a ban is expected to be floated as an amendment.

Still, what one official described as "panic-buying" set in, as lawmakers rallied to draft new legislation in the wake of a series of tragic mass shootings last year, from Aurora, Colo., to Oak Creek, Wis., to Newtown, Conn.

In Tennessee's Hamilton County, the sheriff's department says its officers will be given fewer bullets when they train at the range.

"The concern over firearms availability and ammunition availability and potentials of gun control certainly has impacted the availability of ammunition purchased locally," training coordinator Jody Mays said, according to WDEF.

Earlier this year, Rollingwood Police Chief Dayne Pryor told MyFoxAustin.com that "panic-buying" is contributing to a situation where officers trying to order new firearms are being forced to wait. He said the city, which is outside Austin, has been told to expect wait times to purchase AR-15s and ammunition.

"We have adequate supplies right now, but we're limited to how often we can go to the firing range to train because we want to be conservative right now," he said.

Similarly, the Jenks Police Department in Oklahoma has faced rising ammo and assault weapons costs.

Police Chief Cameron Arthur said the department is still waiting on an order from October, according to KJRH.

Meanwhile, according to CNSNews.com, Rep. Timothy Huelskamp, R-Kan., said he still hasn't heard back from the Department of Homeland Security on why it's buying 1.6 billion rounds.

The Homeland Security Department, though, has said it needs the bullets for law enforcement agents in training and on duty.

Published federal notices about the ammo buy have agitated conspiracy theorists since the fall. The government's explanation is much less sinister.

The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Ga., and others like it run by DHS use up to 15 million rounds a year, mostly on shooting ranges and in training exercises.

More than 90 federal agencies and 70,000 agents and officers used the department's training center last year.

The rest of the 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition would be purchased by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal government's second largest criminal investigative agency.

The Homeland Security ammo buy is not the first time the government's bullets purchases have sparked concerns on the Internet. The same thing happened last year when the Social Security Administration posted a notice that it was buying 174,000 hollow point bullets.

Local law enforcement face ammo shortage as gun owners, DHS stock up | Fox News

RELATED

http://www.alipac.us/f19/dhs-denies-...nition-274750/

From The N.R.A.

Federal Law Enforcement Agencies Buy Ammunition

Posted on August 17, 2012

You may recently have seen some in the Internet rumor mill feverishly repeating the obvious truth above, in an effort to stir up fear about recent acquisitions of ammunition by the Department of Homeland Security and a number of smaller agencies. The mildest writers have questioned why seemingly mundane agencies would need ammunition at all; more incendiary authors suggest that these government agencies are preparing for a war with the American people.

Much of the concern stems from a lack of understanding of the law enforcement functions carried about by officers in small federal agencies. These agents have the power to make arrests and execute warrants, just like their better-known counterparts at agencies like the FBI.

For instance, the Social Security Administration solicited offers for 174,000 rounds of pistol ammunition. But the agency has 295 special agents who combat Social Security fraud that costs tax payers billions each year, so the order works out to roughly 590 rounds of ammunition per agent for training, mandatory quarterly qualification shooting and duty use. More than a few NRA members would use that much ammunition in a weekend shooting class or plinking session.

Another recent rumor questioned a request for 46,000 rounds of.40-caliber ammo by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA inadvertently fueled that speculation through a clerical error that suggested the ammunition was destined for the National Weather Service. NOAA later clarified that the ammunition was actually for the little known Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement, which enforces laws against illegal fishing and marine life importation. The ammunition is for 63 personnel, amounting to about 730 rounds per officer.

The most widespread of the recent rumors involves a Department of Homeland Security contract for a maximum of 450 million rounds of .40-caliber jacketed hollow-points, to be supplied over the next five years.

After receiving numerous questions from his constituents regarding the contract, pro-Second Amendment U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.) and his staff set out in search of the truth. In a press release, Rep. Westmoreland's office explains:

If you take the number of agencies that will be using this ammunition – CBP, Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), ICE, the U.S. Secret Service, Transportation Security Administration, the DHS police force, and all the guards that protect the various buildings these agencies are housed in, and spread that out over 5 years, you start to see that 450 million rounds really isn't that large of an order. Especially considering it is used for training purposes like firing range and live fire exercises, on-the-job use (though that is very limited), and to shore up their supplies. In fact, there are 65,000 – 70,000 law enforcement personnel at DHS who would be covered under this … ammunition contract. If DHS were to purchase all 450 million rounds over 5 years, then that would equate to only about 1,384 rounds of ammo per year per law enforcement [officer] … assuming the lower estimate of only 65,000 law enforcement personnel at DHS. Considering those agents go through training exercises several times per year, that is not a lot of ammunition.

Perhaps most strangely, some have cited the purchase of hollow-point ammunition as evidence of the federal government's evil motives. Hollow-points are the defensive ammunition of choice for federal, state and local law enforcement officers across the country, just as they are for private citizens. These attacks are eerily similar to statements made by gun prohibitionists, who spent the much of the '70s, '80s and '90s complaining about "dum dum" bullets. (In fact, the Violence Policy Center's website still exhibits a publication lamenting that federal ammunition law "has no effect on today's generation of high-tech hollow-point ammunition.") The attacks also ignore the fact that federal agents, unlike average taxpayers on more limited budgets, normally train and qualify with their duty ammunition.

As most gun owners will agree, skepticism of government is healthy. But today, there are more than enough actual threats to the Second Amendment to keep gun owners busy. With two key Supreme Court decisions hanging by a one-vote margin, the Justice Department deeply involved in a cover-up of a disastrous Mexican gun smuggling operation, and President Obama touting a ban on popular semi-automatic firearms, there is no need to invent additional threats to our rights.

NRA-ILA | Federal Law Enforcement Agencies Buy Ammunition

VIDEO @ What's really behind ammo shortages across country? | Fox News Video

Ammo Shortages /paranoia
Gulf Coast Gun Forum

Well just wanted to say thanks to all the panic Ammo buyers for buying up all the ammo. I went to a place that had 12 or 15, 500 rd boxes 3 weeks ago & is sold out today. Not to mention the 1,000 rounds boxes they had are gone.

It seems in my ignorant mind the president has nothing to do with the gun & ammo shortages. It apprears the gun community creates it own problem. So since I am new to buying bulk ammo, as I never had a need for it why did you guys go out and buy up all the ammo & create the actual shortage that you were afraid off.

If I was an ammo or gun manufactures I would just keep sending out rumors about shortages and legislation changes so all the paranoid people would run out & buy it all up creating more demand and higher prices.

So please educate me about how this all works. What causes the actual shortages, paranoia or something legitimate? I am sure there is some basis for the fear that I am unaware off. Are people just going out to buy it & then resale it or just store it.?

I did not vote for Obama by the way.

Joe

Last edited by joe; 12-04-2012 at 08:37 PM.

Ammo Shortages /paranoia