Check this out:
According to a solicitation issued by the agency on August 16, the TSA is looking to buy “3,454,000 rounds of .347 SIG Caliber Training Ammunition”.
Although TSA agents in airports are currently unarmed, last month the TSA announced its plan to hire the use of a firing range within a 20 mile radius of LaGuardia Airport in order to train TSA workers.
The federal agency’s huge bullet buy could signal an expansion of its controversial Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) program, where teams of armed TSA officers patrol railroad stations, bus stations, ferries, car tunnels, ports, subways, truck weigh stations, rest areas, and special events.
VIPR teams currently conduct around 8,000 operations a year. As well as providing security at transport hubs, VIPR teams are now being used to keep tabs on fans at sporting events.
Earlier this month it was announced that VIPR agents would now be patting down Americans “outside the airport” by conducting stop and search shake downs at transport hubs and public events.
As Government Security News notes, the amount of ammunition being purchased, “means the TSA could fire off more than 9,400 rounds per day, every day of the year, to consume that entire quantity annually.”
Significant bullet purchases by the TSA are likely to fuel concerns that the federal government is arming itself to the teeth in preparation for some form of domestic unrest or other catastrophe, following the Department of Homeland Security’s commitment to purchase more than 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition over the course of the last 18 months.
Lest we forget. NO government agency has ever decreased, they have only increased in personnel, power, and budget (read: your tax money stolen from your paycheck). TSA began ostensibly for airport security only. Gotta make sure grandma gets a shakedown before her flight, and don’t forget the kids in wheelchairs; ya have to make sure they aren’t carrying any harmful devices. But turn a blind eye to the guys muttering Allah Akbar during a flight, they aren’t capable of hostile acts though the pattern of the attack of 911 was committed by such types. So why are they now floating the ‘trial balloon’ of venturing out on interstates, as in TN? Could it be to gradually get YOU used to being frisked on a whim? Or perhaps they will be there to help you fix that flat tire? Historically, every incursion against Liberty has begun under the guise of ‘making YOU feel safe’, or for the safety of the ‘public’; that is until the ‘public’ is deemed a threat. And then off to the Gulag with you. For skeptics (who usually refuse to read the lessons of History), a small police organization began many years ago; during the 30’s. It began as a small cadre of guards whose duty was to guard a political official. In less than two and a half years that small band of ‘guards’ grew into one of the most oppressive organizations know to man. That organization of a small ‘guard’ force gone mad was known as the Schutzstaffel (translated as Protection Squadron or defense corps) or SS under the leadership of Heinrich Himmler. The original object of their duty was as personal ‘Protection Squadron’ to Adolf Hitler. Oh but you don’t like the analogy to one of the world’s most evil regimes. My bad. I should have softened the blow with references to Stalin’s Red Guard, or that of Mao-tse-tung. How about the Khmer Rouge of Pol Pot in Cambodia in case the former irritates the skeptics feelings. History is history for a reason, and is repeatable for a reason…Human Nature has not changed since the beginning of Leaders and those whom they lead; or despots and those they oppress. If one wants to live in Liberty as opposed to Slavery one must get off one’s ass and actually EARN it by being vigilant and standing against any incursion against Liberty. When I was in college my History professor made a comment at the time I scoffed at. He stated, “As with Germany, Russia or any other country in the 20th Century, America will be faced with a decision. That decision will be simple multiple choice question the country must answer: A. Liberty or B. Temporary safety under the guise of a benign Police State. If one chooses the wrong one, that temporary safety will turn into the same oppressive state mandated oppression as other 20th Century despots have hoodwinked the citizens into living under. And America can follow the path of destruction of Germany or the USSR and China.
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
Edmund Burke
How many TSA personnel are currently armed? How many will soon be armed?
Including all TSA agents (Transportation Security Officers, VIPR teams, Federal Air Marshals, National Explosives Detection Canine Teams, and Transportation Security Inspectors), there are 58,401 employees of the TSA – http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_TSA_agents_are_there. About 4,000 of which are Air Marshals – http://www.secure-skies.org/fedairmarshals.php.
Information on the quantity of other armed personnel under the TSA banner has been hard to find; probably less than 6,000 (10%). The 3.454 million rounds would be 576 rounds per 6,000 armed personnel. If these 6,000 personnel hit the range that would be 52 rounds per working month (11 per year), 13 rounds per working week (44 per year), 2.6 rounds per working day (220 per year).
The fewer gunvernment, especially armed, goons running around the better but, it seems that these cops are under-trained at firing firearms. Even if only the Marshals are armed they would need more training ammo.
That gives some perspective to the issue.