The Militarization of America

Let’s see, special agents at the IRS are equipped with AR-15 military style weapons? The Department of Veterans Affairs is arming 3,700 employees? The Food and Drug Administration employs 183 heavily armed “special agents.” The EPA spending $3.1 million on guns, ammunition and military-style equipment? Tom Coburn, former senator from Oklahoma, asks in the WSJ, “What is the Obama administration up to?”

The number of non-Defense Department federal officers authorized to make arrests and carry firearms (200,000) now exceeds the number of U.S. Marines (182,000). In its escalating arms and ammo stockpiling, this federal arms race is unlike anything in history. Over the last 20 years, the number of these federal officers with arrest-and-firearm authority has nearly tripled to over 200,000 today, from 74,500 in 1996.

Dr. Coburn, honorary chairman, and Adam Andrzejewski, founder and CEO of OpenTheBooks.com, reported on June 17 the alarming and growing arsenal at federal agencies.

The report catalogs federal purchases of guns, ammunition and military-style equipment by seemingly bureaucratic federal agencies. During a nine-year period through 2014, we found, 67 agencies unaffiliated with the Department of Defense spent $1.48 billion on guns and ammo. Of that total, $335.1 million was spent by agencies traditionally viewed as regulatory or administrative, such as the Smithsonian Institution and the U.S. Mint.

Debbie Young

Debbie, editor-in-chief of Richardcyoung.com, has been associate editor of Dick Young’s investment strategy reports for over three decades. When not in Key West, Debbie spends her free time researching and writing in and about Paris and Burgundy, France, cooking on her AGA Cooker, and practicing yoga.