Bullet 'Health' Fears Dry Up Ammo Supplies

Obama's 'green' procurement plan creating 'de facto ban'

by F. Michael Maloof

WASHINGTON – At the same time federal agencies like the Department of Homeland Security are buying up ammunition stockpiles around the country and shipping large quantities overseas for use by the military, the Obama administration is now pushing states to mandate “green ammunition” that is free of lead.

The result? Ammo supplies for law-abiding citizens have dried up in recent months, and experts expect it to get worse.

“The potential exists for a de facto ammunition ban,” says Ryan Bronson of the Minnesota-based National Shooting Sports Foundation.

Some sources even describe the developments as a conspiracy to limit Americans’ Second Amendment right.

Unprecedented ammunition shortages have been in headlines for months, with stores often limiting purchases to one or two boxes, if they have the desired caliber at all. Often retail shelves that used to hold abundant ammunition supplies display nothing but dust.

Now it appears the developments creating that unwelcome convergence include a campaign to move toward non-toxic, non-lead bullets because of the health concerns associated with lead, the mass purchases government is known to make, and even the shipments of supplies overseas.

Health concerns
Sources say health-care advocates are arguing that lead bullet fragments, especially in game such as venison, are neurotoxins that can harm children and developing fetuses.

Even the U.S. Geological Survey has had something to say about lead-based ammunition. It estimates that nationwide there are 400,000 pieces of lead shot per acre in areas where game is hunted, which can potentially be eaten or washed into waterways.

The USGS further claims 650,000 metric tons of lead were fired off in 2012, the second largest use of lead besides storage batteries.

Supporters of traditional lead ammunition, however, say that there is no study to show any significant reduction in wildlife populations from lead poisoning nor danger to people who eat game that has been killed either from birdshot or more powerful rounds.

‘Green’ ammo
Developing “green ammunition” has proven to be slow going, as the federal government and some states are looking at alternative metals that can provide the same weight as a lead bullet.

Those options include copper and tungsten materials, but they are so hard that technically they could violate federal regulations barring armor-piercing ammunition.

Meanwhile, the Department of Defense purchasing program outlines regulatory guidance such as Executive Order 13423 in “Green Purchasing” on a variety of products.

“DOD is committed to being a good steward of the environment,” a DOD brochure said. “Always think green at the start of the acquisition process!”

While environmental organizations have periodically expressed concern about lead in ammunition, it has not garnered widespread attention until recently.

But sources say they believe those pursuing the Obama administration’s known agenda for restricting access to weaponry and ammunition, which saw daylight after the Sandy Hook and Aurora, Colo., mass shootings, are now adding environmentalism to their anti-gun arsenal of tactics.

Generating an ammunition shortage by pushing for still unavailable “green” ammo, while buying up existing lead-based supplies, would contribute to that, they say.

]The government’s Green Procurement Program previously addressed:

• Recycled content products
• Energy Star and energy-efficient products
• Alternative fuel vehicles and alternative fuels
• Bio based products
• Non-ozone depleting substances
• Environmentally preferable products and services
• Priority chemicals.

But now ammunition has been added, with the apparent aim of using the federal agency green purchasing program to force ammunition manufacturers to switch from lead to non-lead bullets.

Until that’s available, sources say, the federal government continues to reach agreements to buy “all” lead-based ammunition in pre-production from major manufacturers.

“This could explain the huge FEMA purchase run-up over the last couple years,” one weapons industry source said, referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency within the DHS.

Even the U.S. military is supposed to shift to “green,” non-toxic or lead-free composite projectiles, said to be more “earth friendly” and better for the environment. Sources say it will cost four times as much to make “green” ammunition.

Overseas shipments

And, sources add, a complication means that lead bullets sent overseas to Iraq and then to Afghanistan to combat the war on terror cannot be returned to the U.S. because the ammunition was originally transported without proper export licenses.

Moreover, large quantities of the lead-based ammunition stockpiles in the U.S. are being directed to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center under DHS, sources say.

At the same time, the FLETC is purchasing lead-free ammunition as it becomes available for training, referring to as “reduced hazard ammunition,” or RHA.

Because the FLETC in Georgia is a major federal law enforcement center, sources say some 30 agencies use the facility’s contracts to purchase more than three billion rounds of RHA.

Some lead-based ammunition is being imported from South Korea, Turkey, Brazil, Bulgaria and other countries to make up for existing shortfalls.

These imports will help meet demand until domestic production can once again make up for the DHS purchase of more than 1.6 billion rounds, which has effectively diminished supply and the ability for the average U.S. citizen to purchase it for legal purposes.

The Green Procurement Program has transpired over the course of three administrations. It was begun under President Bill Clinton, pushed aside by President George W. Bush and then revived by President Obama.

FBI sources tell WND that the “green” ammunition will never be acceptable to everyday shooters, or to law enforcement, since firearms would need to be adjusted at great individual expense to handle this new ammunition, leading to possible jamming and potential damage to firearms.

The FBI source added that “green” ammunition is used during training, but lead-based ammunition will continue to be used operationally.

Volatile subject

The ammunition issue became so volatile only a week ago that the House of Representatives voted to stop the DHS from entering into new contracts to buy millions of rounds until a report on the government’s need is assembled.

If approved by the Senate and signed by Obama, the bill from Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., would mean a delay in DHS plans to buy another 1.1 billion rounds until the report is completed.

Only two months ago, Fox News reported that schools training individuals to handle guns were allocating staff time to hunt the Web for ammunition supplies and customers were being told to bring their own ammo.

While there has been a massive jump in purchases of weapons and ammunition since Obama took office, the last few months have seen shortages reach a critical point. Some police departments have asked their town’s citizens for help in maintaining a supply adequate for their work.

WND reported in April that the federal government admitted it was running the stock of ammunition dry.

Word came when then-Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was talking to members of Congress and was asked about the ammunition issue.

Questioned by Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., about reports of the massive purchases, Napolitano explained that her department dismissed the concerns when they arose, not feeling them worth a response.\

Huge purchases confirmed

Napolitano said she thought reports of DHS’s purchase of 1.6 billion rounds – enough for many years of war at the rate ammunition is used by the U.S. military these days – were accurate.

“This was a five-year strategic sourcing contract for up to one-point-whatever billion rounds,” she confirmed.

The actual reports have contained the figure 1.6 billion rounds. And calculations done by the Washington Examiner suggest that would be enough for “something like a 24-year supply of ammunition on hand.’

What it is accomplishing is that other consumers of ammunition, from the weekend hunter to police departments, are finding the shelves bare.

For example, Utica, N.Y., police have been told it could take up to 10 months now to get the ammunition they order.

F. Michael Maloof, staff writer for WND and G2Bulletin, is a former senior security policy analyst in the office of the secretary of defense.

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Obama: Spy On All America--Mosques Excluded

Mr. Obama assures us that it is necessary for the FBI and NSA to track every phone call and keystroke so that the government can stop terrorists. If we complain that this level of privacy invasion is costing us our freedom, Mr. Obama counters that you can’t have 100% Security and at the same time have 100% Freedom. Instead, he offers us 0% Freedom with a near 0% Security.


His argument turns completely to smoke when you learn that the FBI is barred from snooping in mosques.

Yes, you read that correctly! Our government's sweeping surveillance of our most private communications excludes mosques! Surely, you are finding it difficult to comprehend that when an agency is looking for radical jihadists, you would overlook their breeding ground, the mosque.

Mosques have been off-limits to Federal agents since October 2011. They may not conduct surveillance or string operations without first obtaining approval from a special/high-level/secret oversight group dubbed the Sensitive Operations Review Committee.

Who serves on this committee, how they make decisions is (big surprise here) all classified.

We do know the panel was set up under pressure from Islamist groups who complained about FBI stings at mosques. Just months before the panel's formation, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) teamed up with the ACLU to sue the FBI for allegedly violating the civil rights of Muslims in Los Angeles by hiring an undercover agent to infiltrate and monitor mosques there.

During the George W. Bush years, before mosques were excluded, the FBI launched dozens of successful sting operations against homegrown jihadists — inside mosques — and disrupted dozens of plots against the homeland.

In the face of solid leads and frequent warnings, it was undoubtedly the hands off Muslims policy of the administration that prevented the FBI from aggressively following up on the leads provided by Russian intelligence officers prior to the Boston Marathon bombings.

The FBI never tapped the phones nor did they canvass the radical Boston mosque where the Muslim bombers worshipped.

One of the Muslim bombers made extremist outbursts during worship, yet because the mosque wasn't monitored, red flags didn't go off inside the FBI about his increasing radicalization before the attacks.

Recent independent surveys of American mosques reveal that about 80% of them preach violent jihad and/or distribute violent literature to worshippers.

However, the Obama anti-terrorist efforts are aimed at those groups which the White House and DHS consider to be the greater threats—namely Veterans and Christians!

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DHS: Ammo, Guns, Civilian Crop

by Chet Nagle
In 2008 candidate Obama said, "We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that is just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded." Listen to it.

After he was elected in 2008, President Obama never again mentioned his "national security objectives," or the "national security force" he wanted to create. Was that 2008 statement just an applause line? Not really, citizen, not really.


The president has never again mentioned his "national security force" or his "national security objectives," and because mainstream media has never questioned him, Americans have two choices: Forget it and trust the White House, or examine actions of the Obama administration over the last five years. If we look closely, a pattern emerges.

To begin, there are those massive Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ammunition buys. One contract is for 450 million rounds, according to the ammo company, ATK. With just this one contract, DHS buys 90 million rounds per year of 40-caliber pistol ammo. There are other contracts, some with parts blacked out by DHS, but that cover ammunition for 9mm pistols, shotguns, .308-caliber sniper rifles, and other weapons. These ammunition contracts surfaced last year, and some analysts calculated the total to exceed 1.6 billion rounds! There are websites laced with links to DHS ammo contracts. [ http://www.infowars.com/dhs-purchases-200-million-more-rounds-of-ammunition/] The official explanation for these contracts is that DHS agents need the bullets for "mandatory quarterly firearms qualifications and other training sessions." No explanation is given for the bullets that have expensive and deadly hollow-points that are not used for target practice, and no explanation for the sniper rifle ammunition. Interestingly, a comparison of these amounts with records of ammunition used by U.S. forces in battle in Iraq -- 5.5 million rounds per month -- gives a rough calculation that DHS has enough ammo to fight a thirty-year war. Since DHS does not operate in Iraq , who is the enemy in America they plan to shoot?

There are many other DHS contracts for things like: armored fighting vehicles, bullet-proof booths for street check-points, bullet-proof vests, riot gear, 7,000 fully automatic AR-15 rifles, and over $30 billion in grants to cooperating local police forces for military-style equipment. In 2011, the DHS budget was $98.8 billion, but they spent only $66.4 billion.

Then there are those viral internet rumors about internment camps. Before you think, "Right wing extremist propaganda," remember those 110,000 Japanese-American citizens in 1941. By Executive Order of President Roosevelt, they spent four years in "relocation" camps built in rural areas from the Mississippi to Hawaii . Even Canada , our very liberal northern neighbor, uprooted 27,000 Japanese-Canadians from their homes and scattered them into 22 camps across western Canada .

Of course, "It can't happen here." Nevertheless, KBR (former Halliburton subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown & Root) is soliciting support teams for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) camps. The KBR descriptive document is for services for the camps in five FEMA "regions" of the United States . (It has a map of those regions.)

And the U.S. Army issued a 326 page manual, Internment and Resettlement Operations? It might be just a manual for army camps holding foreign prisoners of war, except for the sections under "Civil Support Operations," and how the Army will handle "DCs," that is, Dislocated Civilians. It details how Psychological Operations Officers will "reduce or remove antagonistic attitudes," including "muffling" (gagging) agitators. The manual clearly states it applies within "the U.S. and its territories," and that the Posse Comitatus Act prohibiting using U.S. soldiers as a police force in America can be sidestepped by the president "invoking his executive authority."

Some argue President Obama and DHS will not ignore constitutional limits on their authority. They are wrong. For example, the Fourth Amendment guarantees "the people have a right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures..." and a warrant is required that describes the place, person or thing to be seized. The Obama administration don't need no stinkin' warrants. Instead, DHS states that if you live within 100 miles of a U.S. international border, DHS can seize and search all your electronic devices including cell phones, tablets, and laptops - without probable cause or a warrant. They call it "the border security search zone." This ‘search zone' includes entire states: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, plus large parts of New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Take them to court, you say? It might be difficult to do after you are arrested under provisions of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and denied habeas corpus and a public trial before a jury of your peers.

Rob Natelson, former professor of law at the University of Montana , has written a masterful analysis of how Congress surrendered the right to due process to President Obama, giving him power under the NDAA to detain American citizens indefinitely.

Now look at the president's Executive Orders (EO). On 16 March 2012, President Obama issued EO, National Defense Resources Preparedness. It states the president can seize all the resources in the nation (food, water, transportation, etc.) "to promote the national defense," another undefined phrase. On 6 July 2012, this power was combined with EO, Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions that gives DHS the power to control the internet to "satisfy priority communications requirements through the use of commercial, Government, and privately owned communications resources, when appropriate." The words "when appropriate" are not defined.

So let's add it up:

1. DHS has 270,000 personnel including an army of 70,000 armed agents. Among other things, it controls the internet and all communications.

2. An Army manual says Posse Comitatus will be sidestepped by the president so uniformed troops can become national police.

3. FEMA camps are being organized and serviced.

4. The 4th and 10th Amendments are ignored by DHS, and the 2nd Amendment's ‘right to bear arms,' is under vigorous attack.

5. Executive Orders enable the president to control food, utilities, and the internet. When grocery stores are empty, citizens must go to FEMA camps for bread and water. (Leave your guns at the door, please.)

6. A "civilian national security force" that candidate Obama wanted in 2008 is now the DHS, and it takes orders from President Obama.

So it is not just DHS ammo. To those billions of bullets, add the power government agents have to take control of the Republic, "when appropriate." Get ready to hear: "I'm from DHS, and I'm here to help you."



Note: Chet Nagle is a Naval Academy graduate, a Georgetown Law School graduate, and Cold War carrier pilot who flew in the Cuban Missile Crisis. After a stint as a Navy research project officer, he joined International Security Affairs as a Pentagon civilian involved in defense and intelligence work. Afterwards, he lived abroad for 12 years working with Aeromaritime, Inc. and as an agent for the CIA, spending time in Iran , Oman , and many other countries. Along the way, he was founding publisher of a geo-political magazine, The Journal of Defense & Diplomacy, read in over 20 countries. At the end of his work in the Middle East, he was awarded the Order of Oman for his role in Oman 's victory in a guerilla war fomented by communist Yemen . Nagle's first book is a fact-based novel about Iran 's nuclear weapons program, IRAN COVENANT, available on Amazon. His second novel, THE WOOLSORTER'S PLAGUE, was published in 2010 and describes an attack on Washington by terrorists using a biological weapon. He and his wife Dorothy live in Virginia .


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