May you live in interesting times

Sobering news from Prepper Podcast:

More sniper ammunition being ordered by DHS. Who are the targets?
Surprise! The DHS Immigration and Customs Enforcement have requested more ammunition.

However, it is the type of ammunition and not necessarily the quantity that is troubling.

First on the agenda is the .223 rifle ammunition. Just a measly 40 million rounds in the first year, and another 160 million rounds in the following four years. 200,00 million rounds in total. You know, just enough to make you cringe thinking that some government office that is not military has more ammunition than you do.

The .223 caliber round is a decent hunting round, but that is not the rounds to be concerned about.

The .308 rounds should have you a bit concerned. Quite a bit concerned.

Why the .308? Because the same folks at DHS think they need two types of .308 caliber rounds. Blank ammunition and 168 grain hollow point boat tail ammunition.

The blank ammunition will be spread to five different locations in the American south east and in Puerto Rico. The regular ammunition will be spread all over the US in a variety of places.

Blank ammunition? Why blank ammunition?

Well, as it turns out blank ammunition is fantastic for putting on a show. Blank ammunition is used in theatrics (hmmm?) but also is used to help teach new shooters to develop trigger and breathing control.

Nevertheless, have no fear; DHS only needs 25,000 rounds to develop good sniper skills.

Because, they have also ordered 176,000 rounds of the .308 caliber hollow point boat tail (HPBT) rounds.

Boat tail ammunition is incredibly accurate ammunition. From the legal opinion from the US Navy JAG in support of using hollow point ammunition:

[?]marksmanship training units have established unequivocally the superior accuracy of the M852 [M852 is the Sierra MatchKing 168-grain match grade boat tail, ogival spitzer tip bullet with an open tip]. Army tests noted a 36% improvement in accuracy with the M852 at 300 meters, and a 32% improvement at 600 yds; Marine Corps figures were twenty-eight percent accuracy improvement at 300 m, and 20% at 600yds. The National Guard determined that the M852 provided better bullet groups at 200 and 600 yards under all conditions than did the M118. [FNa1]

A good chunk of this ammo will be used at the range maintaining proficiency levels but. Do you feel more secure? Thought not...