AmmoQuestions arise over ammunition purchases at Hoover Dam

Published 14 July 2015

Periodically, questions arise regarding the amount of ammunition purchased by the federal government’s non-military agencies. One must take into account the nature of an agency’s mission and the number of armed personnel included in its ranks. Factor in the number of rounds expended in training and practice, and it becomes clear that the large ammunition purchases make sense. One such instanced surfaced late last week, when it was disclosed that the federal Bureau of Reclamation has requested a purchase of 52,000 rounds of ammunition for law enforcement personnel at Hoover Dam and Lake Mead.

Periodically, questions arise regarding the amount of ammunition purchased by the federal government’s non-military agencies. One must take into account the nature of an agency’s mission and the number of armed personnel included in its ranks. Factor in the number of rounds expended in training and practice, and it becomes clear that the large ammunition purchases make sense.

Every so often, though, a purchase is discovered that causes one to pause.

One such instanced surfaced late last week, when it was disclosed that the federal Bureau of Reclamation has requested a purchase of 52,000 rounds of ammunition for law enforcement personnel at Hoover Dam and Lake Mead.

for the Las Vegas Sun  reports that Nevada Representative Mark Amodei said he was going to look into it’s the agency’s operations, the number of its armed personnel, and ammunition usage.

Agency officials declined to provide such details, with Bureau spokeswoman Rose Davis saying, “We want to limit the amount of information any bad guys might have about our protection capabilities.” The bureau solicited bids in June for 41,600 rounds of hollow-point ammunition, along with 10,400 rounds of shotgun ammunition.

Since there is no official public disclosure of the number of the agency’s armed personnel, it becomes nearly impossible to determine whether the requested amount is excessive or not. In 2008, the number of law enforcement for the facility was said to be about twenty-one officers on patrol.

If that number is used, the per officer annual ammunition allotment is 2,476 rounds. That number is well within accepted norms for an officer to maintain firearm qualification readiness.

Another purchase that raised eyebrows was the Social Security Administration’s 2013 purchase of 174,000 hollow-point bullets for its 295 armed officers, as reported by CNN. When the same calculations are performed, each SSA officer received on average only 590 rounds.