Are you up for the EPA showing up on your land to make sure your little pond is in compliance with lots of guns? How about the Food And Drug Administration? Or the Small Business Administration? The tyranny of Big Government
(Free Beacon) There are now more non-military government employees who carry guns than there are U.S. Marines, according to a new report.
Open the Books, a taxpayer watchdog group, released a study Wednesday that finds domestic government agencies continue to grow their stockpiles of military-style weapons, as Democrats sat on the House floor calling for more restrictions on what guns American citizens can buy.
The “Militarization of America†report found civilian agencies spent $1.48 billion on guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment between 2006 and 2014. Examples include IRS agents with AR-15s, and EPA bureaucrats wearing camouflage.
“Regulatory enforcement within administrative agencies now carries the might of military-style equipment and weapons,†Open the Books said. “For example, the Food and Drug Administration includes 183 armed ‘special agents,’ a 50 percent increase over the ten years from 1998-2008. At Health and Human Services (HHS), ‘Special Office of Inspector General Agents’ are now trained with sophisticated weaponry by the same contractors who train our military special forces troops.â€
There are over 200,000 non-military federal officers with the ability to arrest and carry firearms. The Marines have 182,000 personnel. Many of them are carrying weapons which are illegal for purchase by the general public, because they are automatic weapons.
Other administration agencies that have purchased guns and ammo include the Small Business Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Education, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
And don’t forget the Department Of Health And Human Services, which has lots of “sophisticated military-style weapons.â€
Then you have the Railroad Retirement Board. The Social Security Administration. Geological Survey. Animal and Plant Inspection Service. Agency For International Development. And I’m sure they, and a few others, all have wonderful awesome rationales for arming their employees.
