AmmunitionLarge DHS ammunition purchase continues to be a topic of debate

Published 15 April 2013

Conservative lawmakers and commentators continue to question why DHS is purchasing 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition, and will the agency do with so many bullets. DHS says it is cheaper to buy things in bulk, and that the rounds will be used in target practice and training for government agencies’ employees.

A small portion of DHS's massive ammunition purchase // Source: homelandsecuritynewswire.com

Representative Leonard Lance (R-New Jersey) wants to know why  DHS is planning on buying 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition over the five  years.  

NJ.com reports that a spokesman for Lance’s office said DHS has responded to a letter Lance sent the agency last month seeking a congressional briefing on the ammunition purchase. Now the agency and Lance are discussing a time to meet. Last month Lance attended a Tea Party meeting and responded to a question by William Baer, a local resident, about the purchases. Baer cited aForbesarticle on the purchases.

“As reported elsewhere, some of this purchase order is for hollow-point rounds, forbidden by international law for use in war, along with a frightening amount specialized for snipers,” Forbes reported. “Also reported elsewhere, at the height of the Iraq War the Army was expending less than 6 million rounds a month. Therefore 1.6 billion rounds would be enough to sustain a hot war for 20-plus years.”

Lance’s statement at the  Tea Party event was strong, but did not hint at dark conspiracy  theories. According to Lance, the briefing with DHS “will provide DHS with an opportunity to educate members of Congress and their staff on the departments’ procedures and protocols for its procurement of ammunition, and to dispel any potential misinformation currently in the public domain.”

Others were less circumspect than Lance. Sarah Palin said that “We’re going to default eventually and that’s why the feds are stockpiling bullets in case of civil unrest.” Evangelical preacher Pat Robertson said: “What are they for, the Army going into battle against the enemy? They’re used by Homeland Security against us.”

Representative Doug LaMalfa (R-California) also wrote a letter to DHS last month, which was signed by several other lawmakers, wondering why the agency is purchasing so much ammunition, how much does it already have in stock, and whether the big purchases are a backdoor effort to deny the public access to ammunition.

“Estimates show that this much ammunition would be enough for 24 years of the Iraq war and comes out to five rounds for every person in the United States,” the letter states.

In February DHS told the AP that the purchase was being made because it is cheaper to buy in bulk. The agency gave the same explanation to Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) when he inquired about the purchase.

DHS routinely establishes strategic sourcing contracts that combine the requirements of all its components for commonly purchased goods and services such as ammunition, computer equipment, and information technology services,” the agency wrote to Coburn. “These strategic sourcing contracts help leverage the purchasing power of DHS to efficiently procure equipment and supplies at significantly lower costs.”

The agency also gave Coburn information on how much ammunition it has purchased in the last several years and how much more it plans on purchasing in the current fiscal year.

According to the agency, the majority of the rounds will be used for qualifications and training for law enforcement.