Feds keep on stockpiling ammo

The Department of Justice is seeking to purchase 95,000 rounds of 9mm hollow-point bullets and has posted online a solicitation that requires bids to be submitted by April 30.

While such bullets often are used in law enforcement, the federal government's bulk purchase of ammunition in recent years, including a proposal to buy 1.6 billion bullets, has raised concerns about the government's need for such supplies.

Eyebrows go even higher when the federal government seeks to purchase hollow points, an expanding bullet with a hollow tip designed for "maximizing tissue damage and blood loss or shock," according to an online explanation.

The current solicitation, posted at FBO.gov, is for the Department of Justice's Bureau of Prisons. In addition to the specified 95,000 rounds of "9 mm Lugar Jacketed Hollow Point 115 Grain" bullets, it also seeks 46,000 rounds of .223 caliber 55 grain full metal jacket bullets and 4,750 rounds of 12 gauge shotgun shells.

The deal will be completed through a "reverse auction" in which prospective sellers will submit lower and lower bids for supplies that meet the government's demands.

The government warns: "Offers may not artificially manipulate the price of a transaction on www.FedBid.com by any means. It is unacceptable to place bad faith bids, to use decoys in the www.FedBid.com process or to collude with the intent or effect of hampering the competitive www.FedBid.com process."

Also, no remanufactured or "gray market" materials are acceptable.

The hollow tip allows the bullet to expand on impact, causing the most collateral damage possible. The kinetic energy is applied directly to the target, as the bullets often stay inside the target and maximize "stopping power."

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See the different between a 9 mm bullet striking a melon and a hollow point of the same size:

WND has reported the federal government's ammunition purchases have attracted considerable attention, including from members of Congress such as Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan.

The rise in purchases comes amid attempts to curb consumers' access to certain weapons and ammunition.

For example, lawmakers in Washington took to task the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's Operation Choke Point, a federal plan that lets banks deny legal gun dealers access to banking.

Critics of the program charged it was an underhanded way of infringing the Second Amendment without having to go through Congress.

Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., called it "the greatest government overreach that no one is talking about."

He's among several on the Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations emanding answers from FDIC chairman Martin Gruenberg, the Daily Signal reported.

WND also reported when the federal government announced a ban, through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, on ammunition used in AR-15 rifles, among the most common firearms in the nation.

The resulting outrage prompted the government to reverse itself.

But National Rifle Association commentator Colion Noir warned the government's efforts to ban consumers' access to guns and ammunition will continue.

Noir wrote recently: "Make no mistake, that so-called ammo ban, proposed by the ATF that they're now shelving is nothing more than a gun ban by another name. It's semantic drug smuggling, if you ask me. Take a kilo of gun ban, wrap it in officer safety Saran wrap and smuggle it in the rental car of common-sense gun legislation — and bingo, you have backdoor gun control."

And he warned the ammo-ban proposal will return.

"If you're still floating on the whole Obama-doesn't-want-to-ban-guns cloud of naivety, think about it like this. When you get locked out of your house, what's the first thing you think to do – try the back door.

"It takes nothing more than a two-second Google search to hear quotes of President Obama wanting to ban all AR-15s. And because his administration couldn't get that ban through the front door of Congress, they tried to get it through the back door with this ammo ban," he said.

Simply ban the ammunition, he said, and the gun becomes "nothing more than a fancy club."

See Noir's comments: