Associated Press Whitewashes Controversy Over Feds Buying Ammunition

Story completely ignores DHS purchase of 1.4 billion bullets
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Wednesday, September 5, 2012

The Associated Press has launched a whitewash of the recent controversy which saw numerous different branches of the federal government purchase large quantities of ammunition, focusing on the Social Security Administration’s purchase of 174,000 bullets while completely ignoring a far larger purchase by the DHS which totaled over 1.4 billion bullets.

In a story entitled Social Security buys 174,000 hollow-point bullets; Internet bursts with conspiracy theories, which was carried by dozens of major newspapers, the AP quotes an Infowars.com story from last month which reported on the SSA’s purchase of 174,000 rounds of hollow point bullets scheduled to be delivered to 41 locations across the country.

“It’s not outlandish to suggest that the Social Security Administration is purchasing the bullets as part of preparations for civil unrest,” we wrote, making reference to a Department of Homeland Security drill earlier this year called Operation Shield, which included turning the entrance of a Florida Social Security office into a checkpoint manned by Federal Protective Service officers armed with semiautomatic rifles.

The AP whitewash fails to mention the DHS exercise, which was geared towards protecting the Social Security office in the event of civil unrest.

According to the AP, “The episode illustrates what can happen when a seemingly salacious tidbit gets amplified and embellished on the Internet,” making reference to a Jay Leno skit in which the comedian asked, “What senior citizens are they worried about? I mean, who’s going to storm the building?”

However, the larger issue is the fact that the AP story attempts to build a strawman argument by focusing only the SSA’s purchase of bullets and completely omitting the far more alarming fact that DHS has purchased over 1.4 billion - that’s BILLION with a B - bullets in the past few months alone. Back in March, Homeland Security put out a solicitation for 450 million rounds of .40-caliber hollow point bullets that are designed to expand upon entry and cause maximum organ damage, prompting questions as to why the DHS needed such a large amount of powerful bullets merely for training purposes.

This was followed by another DHS solicitation asking for a further 750 million rounds of assorted bullets, including 357 mag rounds that are able to penetrate walls.

Although the ammo purchases are ostensibly earmarked for training purposes, the DHS has been reticent to clarify why such an unusually large amount of rounds are necessary and why such powerful bullets are required merely for training drills.

This has led to speculation that the purchases are connected to confirmed preparations for civil unrest in the United States, a claim bolstered by the DHS’ purchase of riot gear.

The DHS also recently purchased a number of bullet-proof checkpoint booths that include ‘stop and go’ lights.

The Associated Press’ efforts to portray concern over huge and unprecedented levels of ammunition buys on behalf of the federal government, most notably by the DHS which the AP article refuses to acknowledge, as merely paranoia by Internet conspiracy theorists, is a lazy attempt to downplay the very real preparations for civil unrest that we have documented on numerous occasions over the last five years.

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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show and Infowars Nightly News.