“First it was the Department of Homeland Security, then it was the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and now the Social Security Administration is set to purchase 174,000 rounds of hollow point bullets that will be delivered to 41 locations across the country.” That’s the latest from infowars.com, anyway. And you were wondering why ammo prices had been creeping up again lately. Maybe it’s not the looming election after all. Or not only that. But the Social Security Administration? Srsly? Guess they’re getting ready to deal with the tens of thousands of pitchfork weilding geezers who will descend on them when they figure out there really is a problem with the underlying math and this month’s check isn’t in the mail.
I guess you’ve never been to a Social Security office. Not only are there old geezers, but a multitude of disabled persons (with a variety of ills and of various ages) and minor children of deceased adults who are receiving benefits. The waiting room at my location has bullet proof glass for walkup business and an armed guard, as well as highly visible no guns signs. Access to the personnel in the back for face to face interviews are through a locked door. I guess some people get upset when their benefits get cut off. So does this surprise me? Not.
Not to mention, 174,000 rounds isn’t much considering the size of their workforce. I mean… Stock piles are good, they always over order right? They train their officers right? I’ve purchased more than 2k rounds of pistol ammo at a time… No biggie. This is more INFOWARS garbage reporting. I used to be a HUGE fan… And found myself buying his nonsense hook-line-and-sinker. Please TTAG… Roll your eyes at INFOWARS, and let it be gone… They are complete garbage, and more often than not lately they seem to think their Paul Joseph Watson, and the other fear-monger-tinfoil-hat writers are “legit.” Making no citations, and only proving the INFOWARS perspective… Usually blinded by half truths, and Alex’s favorite phrase… “It’s openly admitted in documents” or “Just google it.” When you try to investigate the sources they do cite, they are usually fringe news agencies, right wing/left wing tabloids, or some other “less than reputable” sources… And at the end of the day they all tie back into the following BS…
A) Emergency food rations (They host ad space everywhere)
B) MIDAS Resources (Gotta buy that gold for the impending collapse!)
C) Water coolers (Gotta getcha one of them space age thangs to survive the “pock-a-lips”)
D) Diamond Gusset Jeans (Oh ya cant live with out em… They let your crotch breath in the apocalypse and last for ever )
E) Their comments section…Full of incessant mumblings, rantings, parrot-shock-troopers of idiocy, lunacy, psychosis, and general lack of reader comprehension. Never mind the fact that the majority of the people commenting are calling for some kind of “action” or “call to arms” over something as stupid as a Mach6 Missile Test, or a cop tazering some drunk perp resisting arrest.
Everyone should do your self a favor and take 99% of what comes out of that site witha grain of salt.
SS disability has become the next financial step for Gumint income after unemployment runs out in a lot of states ..
Okay, the Social Security Administration just bough a sh!tload of ammo, but all of it was at least 62 years old.
Haha Ralph I regularly find myself playing rimshots on the drums in my head after reading some of your posts.
Not quite. Some was 65, others 67.
OMG too funny!!
DOOOOOOOOOD, take anything from infowars with a grain of salt. Do they cite their source?
“A solicitation posted by the SSA on the FedBizOpps website asks for contractors to supply 174,000 rounds of “.357 Sig 125 grain bonded jacketed hollow point pistol ammunition.”
https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=6c39a2a9f00a10187a1432388a3301e5&tab=core&_cview=0&fb_source=message
— Note that I have not read through the details at the government site. 174,000 rounds going to 41 locations nationwide averages 4,244 rounds to each place. Most likely those rounds are going to more than one person per location. Still, couldn’t they have chosen something less costly than SIG .357 JHP for arming their troops?
Quick Breakdowns
Baltimore, MD — 8000
Atlanta, GA — 4000
Clearwater, FL — 2000
Nashville, TN — 4000
Birmingham, AL — 2000
Lexington, KY — 2000
Greensboro, NC — 1000
Columbia, SC — 2000
Manchester,NH — 15000
Chicago, IL — 6000
Cincinnati, OH — 3000
St. Louis, MO — 1000
Detroit, MI — 3000
Cleveland, OH — 6000
St. Paul, MN — 2000
Milwaukee, WI — 2000
Baton Rouge, LA — 2000
Dallas, TX — 5000
Oklahoma City, OK — 8000
Houston, TX — 6000
El Paso, TX — 4000
Denver, CO — 5000
Salt Lake City, UT — 2000
Helena, MT — 1000
Kansas City, MO — 5000
St. Louis, MO — 3000
Phoenix, AZ — 5000
San Diego, CA — 3000
Los Angeles, CA — 10000
Las Vegas, NV — 2000
Santa Ana, CA — 3000
Fairfield, CA — 5000
Batavia, NY — 1000
Iselin, NJ — 10000
San Juan, PR — 2000
Philadelphia, PA — 5000
Balto, MD/Wash, DC — 3000
Richmond, VA — 10000
Charleston, WV — 1000
Pittsburgh, PA — 2000
Seattle, WA — 8000
What cheap? No way… Talk about budget cuts and they go and do that kind of nonsense… *eye roll* kinda like how if you get a gov contract you can charge them 5-10 times what any private customer would pay, but you gotta land the contract… It’s disgusting IMO.
There’s always a grain of something factual in what infowars says. That’s how they get their looniness believed. But the context and the other facts are always out in left field compared to their conclusions and scary claims.
They did. As is the case with most government contracts, this one is posted through Federal Business Operations. https://www.fbo.gov/index?mode=form&id=6c39a2a9f00a10187a1432388a3301e5
Yeah with you on that… Just said that my self ^^^^ Way up there…
Sure they have legitimate sources… sometimes… But… They have been citing themselves lately as a “legit” news outlet, and frankly they are anything but…
Being an old geezer who actually retired from one of the agencies associated with the Social Security Administration, I thought you should know that every single government bureaucracy has “cops”.
The SSA provides benefit checks and Medicare to individuals. It also buys the services of a wide range of various medical providers and God only knows how many other vendors of goods and services. It administers the SSI program–that’s the federal welfare program for those who don’t have coverage under Social Security–and probably a lot of other programs I’m not familiar with. With every government program, there are–believe it or not!–people who are out to defraud the system. Some of them big time badasses. SSA and the agencies associated with it have their own investigators who are knowledgeable about the specific regulations and rules involved. When arrests are necessary, the local police or FBI or some other policing agency is customarily involved. But during the course of criminal investigations, the investigators are on their own and they are involved with some pretty dangerous folks. There have been instances of investigators being assaulted and killed.
That’s why some people in the SSA are armed and need ammunition.
Is Social Security a Ponzi Scheme? Well, is there any actual money in the “Social Security Trust Fund”? Or the Social Security “lock box”? Are there piles of printed cash sitting around waiting to be sent to the current recipients? Nope. The only thing in the SS “trust fund” is a promise – by Congress – to pay benefits sometime in the future. ALL of the SS taxes collected every year are immediately dumped into the general fund and spent on current budget items. The SS “trust fund” is nothing more than an accounting gimmick that says SS pensions are part of the deficit, and honest, Congress will make sure future retirees get paid. Right. And by the way, those SS taxes you young working folks pay are being handed out to people with “disabilities” (including a psychological aversion to work), who have never paid a dime into the “trust fund”.
“A Ponzi scheme … is a fraudulent investment operation. In its essential design it’s a con. Investors don’t earn interest and instead are paid off by other dupes. Because these schemes require an ever-increasing number of new participants to pay off earlier investors, they inevitably collapse.”
Pretty good description of Social Security. And with the baby boom generation retiring now, there are far fewer new investors to pay the current tab for us old farts. I would not blame the current working generation for pulling an “Atlas Shrugged”, and going deep into the underground economy. In fact, that action may be necessary to return this country to some kind of fiscal sanity.
This explains why the SS Admin and other fed agencies are buying millions of rounds of ammo. They are worried about the hordes of enraged geezers who will be rioting in the streets when the SS Ponzi scheme collapses.
Invest in precious metals: gold, silver, and lead (enclosed in a thin copper jacket).
“…(enclosed in a thin copper jacket).”
——
Steel core optional.
+2
I can’t believe anyone reads Infowars as though they have any credibility at all.
Remember, these are the brainiacs who say the attacks on 9/11 were a government conspiracy and that the towers were blown up and a missile hit the Pentagon.
It’s best to assume that whatever they say is looney.
Did they order it over the Internet?
We haven’t noticed an increase in ammunition prices.
Except for the competition shooters most customers just want something cheap for the range. Most people do though buy the better brands for carry/home defense. We offer to buy back brass if purchased from us but you have to pick it up. I am not a fan of steel cased ammunition but we do sell it if someone wants it.
One thing we offer most ranges don’t is a while-you-wait gun cleaning/lubrication service.
With the recent news sites seemingly “sensationalizing” every new shooting we have seen more people stocking up who probably would not.
Wow, that is some of the worst reporting i have ever seen. SSA has armed guards, none of which work for Social Security. They don’t have their own police force or armed investugation department. They cut off the check for non compliance. I’m sad to see the quality of reporting take a nose dive by referring to questionable reporting.
As pointed out above and below by posters who have had experience in that area, the Social Security Administration does indeed employ investigators who are trained and armed. The ammunition purchased is not for the rent-a-cops you see at the local SSA office.
Would you feel comfortable investigating and confronting the perps involved in a multi-million dollar Medicare fraud scam with only your good looks and a government ID card to protect you?
Those investigators you referred to are unarmed. Due to jurisdiction and training, they use local and federall law enforcement to carry out warrants and arrests. Personally, if i was in the role I’d want to be armed. Medicare is an entirely seperate entity, and has their own criminal division. Looking at the round count looks like SSA intends to manage the armed security themselves and nothing more.
Here is a quote from the SSA, posted on their OIG website in explanation:
“As we said in a recent post, our office has criminal investigators, or special agents, who are responsible for investigating violations of the laws that govern SSA’s programs. Currently, about 295 special agents and supervisory special agents work in 66 offices across the United States. These investigators have full law enforcement authority, including executing search warrants and making arrests.
“Our investigators are similar to your State or local police officers. They use traditional investigative techniques, and they are armed when on official duty…
“…Our special agents need to be armed and trained appropriately. They not only investigate allegations of Social Security fraud, but they also are called to respond to threats against Social Security offices, employees, and customers.”
Here is a link to the full blog:
http://oig.ssa.gov/newsroom/blog/2012/08/social-securitys-oig-responds-concerns-over-ammunition-procurement
as a person of the gun when i see a gun displayed i get snoopy. the armed gaurd at my local ssa office in ca is a private security guy and he packs a revolver. looks like a ruger gp100 to me. and as stone age as i am i realize that printed money is rarely used in these programs. it’s all done electronicly. as for alex jones, i’m on record as calling him a huckster taking advantsge of the weak minded.
What scares me about this is they are hollow points. Those are carry rounds not practice rounds. to top it off the fact they even are arming themselves, what for? If someone is going to get arrested for some sort of fraud isn’t that carried out by the FBI, or local po po?
One question I have for Dan, and Robert is has this been done in the past.
As we know by the reports all these different groups are ordering ammo. What for? Is this just part of normal activity that has been going on for decades, or are new sections of the agencies getting tooled up.
If it is the latter, why, and amazingly enough why under Obama? Liberals don’t like guns right? Do they think they are going to war with the American people?
Now that last question should leave you scratching your head for a while.
Sadly but profitable for us is that paranoia is driving up sales. I guess that is the same for government agencies with $$$ to spend. Spend it or get it taken away maybe ?
We are lucky to have a good state with reasonable laws and distributors who can keep us stocked in all the AR-15 and MK-47 style rifles. They are “flying” off our shelves as fast as we can restock them. Of all the Colt 6920’s (4) , 6940’s (2) and the DD4’s (Daniel Defense) we got in today all but one is now SOLD ! (one DD4 left).
The better trained police agencies have the philosophy of “Practice and train with what you carry”.
The next time someone asks if we should be able to buy 6000 rounds of ammo on the net ask in return if docile agencies of the USG should spend our tax dollars on hundreds of thousands of bullets.
And I know you’ve been asked that question.
Social Security (like most agencies) has it’s own integrated group of Special Agents as part of their Office of Inspector General operation. They investigate program fraud, which sometimes involves organized crime elements, as well as some types of identity theft involving Social Security numbers. They also investigate and deal with threats to regular SSA employees, which are rather plentiful. They have the same training and arrest authority as any other federal agent. I know SSA-OIG agents who participate on various task forces with the Marshals and other federal agencies. As a group, they are very professional – I’ve had the pleasure of going through a simunitions course with some of them, and they are very good. SSA-OIG agents carry Sigs in .357, so that’s what the ammo order is almost certainly for.
SSA, and practically every government agency, has an internal Inspector General. These investigators are usually full fledged, armed Special Agents with independent arrest authority. They are real cops chasing criminals.
The amount of ammo ordered is not very much. I mean, how many inspectors do they have? They’re chasing after criminals filing claims for dead people (or multiple identities), people with fake identities trying to scam money, or other kinds of more sophisticated fraud. Considering there are 55 million Americans collecting checks (how many legitimately?), I imagine that 174,000 rounds per year means there are not very many agents out there. If you consider training, qualification, and duty, the ammo allotment is not that big a deal.
The government can’t win for losing. If people get away with fraud, then they’re not doing enough about it and people howl at their incompetence. If they order ammo for the Special Agents who chase these criminals, then they’re preparing for Armageddon and people howl at their over bearing authority. What do you want?!
God! That information is from infowars! It is an Alex Jones site! He is some loony conspiracy freak that has been predicting the Apocalypse is coming and day now for years. Anything he says should be taken with a grain of salt or less. He is the source for the paranoid schizophrenic crowd. I am not saying that lightly. I know someone with this disease that hangs on Alex Jones’ every word. When it is pointed out that his predictions don’t come true he just shrugs his shoulders.
Really the guy is a huckster that preys on the mentally unstable. Yes, he puts some truth in his so called information but every good con man does that. Hell, he could even be correct about this information about buying the ammo but his larger theory is always some conspiracy by the NWO (New World Order, aka, Illuminati) that is going to take over the world and put us all in concentration camps–any day now.
If you believe Alex Jones and infowars we should all be living for years in a post Apocalypse world now. The dollar should have collapsed and be totally worthless. George Bush should be ruling under martial law. The British pound should be toilet paper. That anyone could believe this guy after so many failed predictions is amazing except when you consider many of his followers are mentally ill.
Alex Jones and infowars is NOT a legitimate source for anything.
Ad hominem attacks are logical fallacies.
People need to be smart enough to spots errors in logic and debate. Trying to discredit the source does not invalidate the claim. The evidence is there and speaks for itself.
I work for the SSA, and it’s probably for our OIG office, which mainly investigates fraud in SS cards, benefits, stuff like that. Does SSA need it’s own law enforcement? No, just have the FBI do it. Do they need to use HP for range practice (probably what it’s for)? Hell no! At the offices, the security guards there are actually private security, not federal employees. This is riduclous, we don’t have enough money to hire people to do the necessary work, our waiting times are going through the roof, and they’re dropping $100k on ammo? Pisses me off.
Then you should know CDI does the investigations and is unarmed. OIG is an extension of DOJ, and their role is ivestigating federal waste and abuse. Oh, and federal employees with their numerous complaints.
Tommy,
Please see my reply to you above, referring you to the SSA OIG website that explains that they have almost 300 armed criminal investigators in offices around the country, what some of their duties entail and that they have law enforcement authority.
Nathan–Practice and qualification sessions in many law enforcement agencies are done with duty ammunition. Using low velocity, cheap range ammo doesn’t duplicate the recoil characteristics of high-powered duty ammo.
If Speer gets the contract, maybe SSA will use Gold Dots for duty and go for Lawman ammunition for practice. Lawman ammo was made to recreate the attributes of duty ammo in lower priced practice ammo. Makes sense to me. But making sense is usually the kiss of death when dealing with the government.
Comments are closed.