Recently I wrote about mysterious purchases of hollow-point ammo going to the National Weather Service which turned out to be a clerical error but doesn't explain government purchases of over 2 billion rounds of hollow-point ammo. Now under fire, the Administration seeks to explain these purchases as being business as usual.

Apparently, I wasn't the only person concerned about a recent solicitation on the FedBizOps website asking for bids to supply 46,000 rounds of .40 S&W JHP to the National Weather Service in various locations on the East Coast. Turns out this was a clerical error and the ammo was intended for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement instead of the NOAA's National Weather Service. Prompt attention by an alarmed AT reader resulting in her contacting her congressman cleared this particular matter up. However, a firestorm of speculation and criticism from across the Internet has prompted the Administration to respond to the situation in an attempt to pacify those alarmed by purchases of deadly hollow-point ammunition and leads to even more questions. Exactly why is the government purchasing some two billion rounds of this ammunition, and exactly how many obscure law enforcement agencies exist within the federal government?  

We learn from the article reporting on the Administration response that the Social Security Administration has its own law enforcement agency with full police powers, and that its "investigators have full law enforcement authority, including executing search warrants and making arrests." NOAA has its own law enforcement agency to "enforce the nation's ocean and fishing laws to ensure a level playing field for fishermen and to protect marine species like whales, dolphins and turtles." One wonders how many other obscure federal agencies have law enforcement agencies. Wikipedia lists some 50 federal law enforcement agencies ranging from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Marshalls Service (USMS) to the U.S. Mint Police (USMP) and the U.S. Supreme Court Police. Another search reveals that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has its own law enforcement agency, a scary thought given the Obama Administration's war on coal.

However, one thing is certain. The Obama Administration has spent trillions of dollars with nothing to show for their efforts, and bankrupted the country. A Romney-Ryan Administration looking for agencies to cut in the quest to shrink the size of the federal government and get spending under control might find the consolidation or elimination of these multiple law enforcement agencies a good place to start.

Tom Roberson blogs at tomroberson.wordpress.com.