March 29, 2013
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is buying 2 BILLION rounds of hollow point ammunition, enough to shoot every American 5 times!
How many times have you seen a version of this story this year? I've lost count. It mostly appears in alarmist or conspiratorial tones that cause some to ignore it out of hand and others to think that as individual citizens we should be preparing for civil or revolutionary war. It also usually appears with language like "is purchasing" (present tense) or "has purchased" (past tense). I think I've only seen 1-2 articles that put it into a context I think is more likely, a 'contract' to purchase (future tense and a maybe).
This link is to a 7:33 audio interview between Michael Savage and a defense contractor and arms manufacturer. It provides the best explanation that I've seen for this situation. Any of you who have any concern over this issue should consider this MUST LISTENING so you can separate yourselves from the overwhelming 'the world is coming to an end' rhetoric that is too common here.
http://www.wnd.com/wnd_video/michael-savage-talks-to-expert-about-dhs-ammo-purchases/
Even after this reasonable explanation, there are still 2 concerns.
1) This actually could be a DHS or government conspiracy. As pointed out in this interview, these contracts can be used effectively to manipulate ammunition supply in our country and it is framed in this context in this interview and elsewhere. Considering the huge number and variety of attacks our 2nd Amendment rights are under at the moment this is entirely believable. I'm far from being a conspiracy theorist. I think most of them are nut cases crying for attention. But there's no doubt from our history that government conspiracies do exist and are well documented. I'm using 'conspiracy' in its most basic form here - all it takes is for 2 or more people to conspire or plan for an outcome to have a conspiracy. I'm not talking about the evil Obama Administration declaring monarchy status here. Conspiracy or not, this seems like a wasteful allocation of precious funds at a time when our economy and national debt are in serious trouble but it seems that wouldn't stop those in power from abusing their power in light of some of the recently exposed wasteful spending and decisions that are being made.
2) This report doesn't address whether the contracts are truly for "hollow point" ammunition. If they are, that is concerning. Not because I think DHS is planning for open warfare with US citizens but because it's wasteful. Hollow point ammo is generally more expensive than "full metal jacket" or "ball" rounds. DHS has a legitimate need for hollow points. Hollow points are used for defensive shooting because it has higher "stopping power" as it rapidly dissipates its energy into the target. This also reduces the likelihood that the round will travel through the first target into an unintended surrounding one, so while being more damaging to a first person target, it's safer for people in the surrounding area. It is possible, however, that under such massive contracts, the government is getting a price break on hollow points that price them equivalently with less expensive ammunition. This would make DHS' inventory simpler to manage throughout its many sub-departments and local offices. Since hollow points are used 'operationally' by law enforcement officers, it would make sense that if you want to manage only one type of ammunition, that would be it. There are have been some claims about hollow point ammunition that are meant to gain attention and add credibility to the ominous nature of these contracts. One is that 'a Marine never saw hollow points during his time in service'. There's a very simple explanation for that. Hollow points are not allowed in warfare by international treaty. Our Department of Defense (DoD) does not use it. (Yes, it's possible it may be used somewhere for internal security but I've never even seen it used in that context.) The other is that some justify DHS exclusively purchasing hollow points because, they say, it's important to train with what you use operationally. That makes perfect sense - in the context of competitive shooting or other 'high performance' shooting niches like SWAT teams and direct action (door kicker; hostage rescue) units. For defensive shooting, basic firearms training and periodic re-qualification, it's a non-issue.
===
Immediately after posting this, I read this article. It
makes some of my same points and is worth reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment