Saturday, June 18, 2016

The Militarization of America



Why Does the IRS Need Guns?

By Dr. Tom Coburn and Adam Andrzejewski | June 17, 2016
Click Here to read our Wall Street Journal column

THE MILITARIZATION OF AMERICA
OPENTHEBOOKS OVERSIGHT REPORT 
Non-Military Federal Agencies Purchases of Guns, Ammunition,
and Military-Style Equipment Fiscal Years 2006 - 2014

Today, in The Wall Street Journal, our Honorary Chairman Dr. Tom Coburn and Founder/CEO Adam Andrzejewski break our oversight report on the militarization of our non-military federal agencies.
 
We quantified $1.48 billion in non-military federal agencies purchase of guns, ammunition and military-style equipment during the last nine years.

We found that there are more non-military federal officers with arrest and firearm authorization (200,000+) than U.S. Marines (182,000). Who Has More FirepowerShare our info-graphic at RealClearPolicy, click here.

Here are some more of our key findings:

1. Sixty-seven non-military federal agencies spent $1.48 billion on guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment.
 
2. Of that total amount, 'Traditional Law Enforcement' Agencies spent 77 percent ($1.14 billion) while 'Administrative' or 'General' Agencies spent 23 percent ($335.1 million).
 
3. Non-military federal spending on guns and ammunition jumped 104 percent from $55 million (FY2006) to $112 million (FY2011) from high to low.
 
4. Since 2004, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) purchased 1.7 billion bullets including 453 million hollow-point bullets. As of 1/1/2014, DHS estimated its bullet inventory-reserve at 22-months, or 160 million rounds.

5.  The Internal Revenue Service, with its 2,316 special agents, spent nearly $11 million on guns, ammunition and military-style equipment.

6.  The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) spent $11.66 million including more than $200,000 on 'night vision equipment,' $2.3 million on body armor, more than $2 million on guns and $3.6 million on ammunition.
 
Please read our Wall Street Journal column, Why Does the IRS Need Guns?, read here.
 
Download our OpenTheBooks Oversight Report - The Militarization of America, study here.

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Join The Transparency Revolution! It's Your Money.

Matthew Tyrmand
Deputy Director

Adam Andrzejewski (say: Angie-f-ski)
Founder, OpenTheBooks.com
Thomas W. Smith, Chairman

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