We asked. They answered.
The Office of Inspector General is the law enforcement arm of the U.S. Department of Education and is responsible for the detection of waste, fraud, abuse, and other criminal activity involving Federal education funds, programs, and operations. As such, OIG operates with full statutory law enforcement authority, which includes conducting search warrants, making arrests, and carrying firearms. The acquisition of these firearms is necessary to replace older and mechanically malfunctioning firearms, and in compliance with Federal procurement requirements. For more information on OIG’s law enforcement authority, please visit our Web site at: www.ed.gov/oig. The information is available on the front page of our site.
Thank you again for your inquiry.
Catherine Grant
Public Affairs Liaison
U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General
So then we asked again: which guns, what malfunctions?
I'd wager they're replacing more-or-less identical older 870s that have been rode hard and put up wet.
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If the old ones are so bad, put them up on auction, I might want to bid on a fixer upper.
"The Office of Inspector General is the law enforcement arm of the U.S. Department of Education and is responsible for the detection of waste, fraud, abuse, and other criminal activity involving Federal education funds, programs, and operations."
Not often that you hear "law enforcement" and "Office of the Inspector General" in the same sentence. Most folks, myself included, consider the an "Inspector General" is generally an Administrative function. You know, make sure that the paperwork associated with whatever the Department does, is properly done. Particularly so when the IG is in a Department that has no "troops", but is mostly one of people who monitor standards and procedures.
Also, is the "criminal activity involving Federal education funds, programs and operations" the kind that includes violence or the threat of same?
Finally, why is it "necessary to replace older and mechanically malfunctioning firearms"? Not that "mechanically malfunctioning" firearms, or ANY mechanical device for that matter, shouldn't be replaced. Just wondering how much the now mechanically unsound shotguns got that way? It could be a crappy maintenance program, or a crappy storage facilities, which wouldn't be that big a surprise for a Federal Agency. Or it could be the weapons are worn out from use.
Which would, of course, beg the question…used on who?
All in all, a most intriguing situation.
And kind of frightening in a "Huh" kind of way.