Congressman Doug LaMalfa on DHS Ammo Purchases - March 26, 2013

Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.) joined Megyn Kelly on the Fox News channel this afternoon to discuss why he and other lawmakers, including Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), are looking for answers from DHS about the reasons for the purchases.

He said constituents continually complain to him about a shortage of ammunition for their personal firearms and wonder whether the government is contributing to that problem.

"It is a heck of a lot of rounds of ammunition, and for some very dubious-sounding reasons," LaMalfa noted. Megyn pressed him on what exactly is "dubious" about the government pointing out that the purchases are in bulk and meant to last a long time.

LaMalfa said for instance that the Social Security Administration has ordered about 200,000 rounds of hollow-point bullets, which have also been ordered by other federal agencies.

"(Hollow-point bullets) are not appropriate for target practice. They're much more costly rounds. ... And in this time of sequester, where everything is a disaster because of the sequester, do they really have that kind of money to be spending on this amount of ammunition?" he asked, pointing out that illegal immigrants have been released from detention due to the sequester.

LaMalfa said he's heard from local law enforcement officers who've told him that they've had problems purchasing ammo, and that DHS "is sending a wrong message" to the American people overall with this apparent buying spree.

As WND reported, the Department of Homeland Security has argued that it is buying in bulk to save money, explaining it uses as many as 15 million rounds a year for training law enforcement agents.

But the 1.6 billion rounds of ammo would be enough for more than 100 years of training, or, more ominously, enough to fight a war for more than 20 years. It would also be enough to shoot every American more than five times.

Forbes columnist Benko, who worked for two years in the U.S. Department of Energy's general counsel's office in its procurement and finance division, doubts the government's explanation.

"To claim that it's to 'get a low price' for a ridiculously wasteful amount is an argument that could only fool a career civil servant," he writes.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said she believes the federal government is building an arsenal to prepare for the day the country goes bankrupt. Last month, she wrote on her Facebook page: "If we are going to wet our proverbial pants over 0.3% in annual spending cuts when we're running up trillion dollar annual deficits, then we're done.

Put a fork in us. We're finished. We're going to default eventually and that's why the feds are stockpiling bullets in case of civil unrest."

The prospect of civil unrest puts a chilling spin on an ominous remark then-candidate Barack Obama made in a Colorado campaign speech in July 2008.

"We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded," said then-candidate Obama.
read more on http://www.wnd.com/wnd_video/congressman-doug-lamalfa-on-dhs-ammo-purchases/#i0f16dj0hrpkhqIk.99