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There are now more non-military government employees who carry guns than there are U.S. Marines, according to a new report.<\/p>\n
Open the Books, a taxpayer watchdog group, released a study Wednesday that finds domestic government agencies continue to grow their stockpiles of military-style weapons, as Democrats sat on the House floor<\/a> calling for more restrictions on what guns American citizens can buy.<\/p>\n The \u201cMilitarization of America<\/a>\u201d report found civilian agencies spent $1.48 billion on guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment between 2006 and 2014. Examples include IRS agents with AR-15s, and EPA bureaucrats wearing camouflage.<\/p>\n \u201cRegulatory enforcement within administrative agencies now carries the might of military-style equipment and weapons,\u201d Open the Books said. \u201cFor example, the Food and Drug Administration includes 183 armed \u2018special agents,\u2019 a 50 percent increase over the ten years from 1998-2008. At Health and Human Services (HHS), \u2018Special Office of Inspector General Agents\u2019 are now trained with sophisticated weaponry by the same contractors who train our military special forces troops.\u201d<\/p>\n Open the Books found there are now over 200,000 non-military federal officers with arrest and firearm authority, surpassing the 182,100 personnel\u00a0who are actively serving in the U.S. Marines Corps<\/a>.<\/p>\n The IRS spent nearly $11 million on guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment for its 2,316 special agents. The tax collecting agency has billed taxpayers for pump-action and semi-automatic shotguns, semi-automatic Smith & Wesson M&P15s, and Heckler & Koch H&K 416 rifles, which can be loaded with 30-round magazines<\/a>.<\/p>\n The EPA spent $3.1 million on guns, ammo, and equipment, including drones, night vision, \u201ccamouflage and other deceptive equipment,\u201d and body armor.<\/p>\n When asked about the spending, and EPA spokesman said the report \u201ccherry picks information and falsely misrepresents the work of two administrations whose job is to protect public health.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMany purchases were mischaracterized or blown out of proportion in the report,\u201d said spokesman Nick Conger. \u201cEPA\u2019s criminal enforcement program has not purchased unmanned aircraft, and the assertions that military-grade weapons are part of its work are false.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEPA\u2019s criminal enforcement program investigates and prosecutes the most egregious violators of our nation\u2019s environmental laws, and EPA criminal enforcement agents are law enforcement professionals who have undergone the same rigorous training as other federal agents,\u201d Conger continued.<\/p>\n Other administration agencies that have purchased guns and ammo include the Small Business Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Education, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.<\/p>\n The report also highlighted that the Department of Health and Human Services has \u201cspecial agents\u201d with \u201csophisticated military-style weapons.\u201d Open the Books also found $42 million in gun and ammunition purchases that were incorrectly coded.<\/p>\n \u201cSome purchases were actually for ping-pong balls, gym equipment, bread, copiers, cotton balls, or cable television including a line item from the Coast Guard entered as \u2018Cable Dude,\u2019\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n Open the Books appealed to both liberals like Bernie Sanders\u2014who has called for<\/a> demilitarizing local police departments\u2014and conservatives in its report.<\/p>\n \u201cConservatives argue that it is hypocritical for political leaders to undermine the Second Amendment while simultaneously equipping non-military agencies with hollow-point bullets and military style equipment,\u201d Open the Books said. \u201cOne could argue the federal government itself has become a gun show that never adjourns with dozens of agencies continually shopping for new firearms.\u201d<\/p>\n Update June 23, 10:15 a.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n Following publication of this article,\u00a0Adam Andrzejewski, the CEO of Open the Books who wrote the report, pushed back against the EPA\u2019s statement, and provided\u00a0contract data<\/a> to back up his claims.<\/p>\n \u201cHow can the EPA spokesperson deny hard facts from their own checkbook?\u201d he said. \u201cAlongside our oversight report, OpenTheBooks.com also released a PDF of all raw data. This line-by-line transactional record from the EPA\u2019s own checkbook on page 113 clearly shows that in 2013 and 2014 the EPA purchased tens of thousands of dollars of \u2018Unmanned Aircraft\u2019 from Bergen RC Helicopters Inc which on a net basis amounted to approximately $34,000.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAll of the assertions in our oversight report are the quantification of actual spending records produced and reported to us by the federal agencies themselves,\u201d Andrzejewski said.<\/p>\n