The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently purchased 1.5 billion rounds of ammunition. Folks, that’s over four bullets for every man, woman and child in the U.S. In Iraq we expended only 70 million rounds a year. Is DHS becoming a domestic army? What’s going on?

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ordered 46,000 rounds of hollow-point ammunition. The NOAA has 191 employees, including 98 special agents and 28 enforcement officers who carry weapons. I know weather forecasting is lousy, but I haven’t heard of anyone laying siege to NOAA employees. Why arm weathermen?

Are we under attack by the government? Is the second amendment in trouble? Some federal agencies arming themselves; Social Security Administration, Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, Environmental Protection Agency, etc. Now consider how our government is militarizing our state and local police departments. Worried yet?

Vladimir Lenin said, “A system of licensing and registration is the perfect device to deny gun ownership is the perfect device to deny gun ownership to the bourgeoisie.” Does this quote hold any relevance for us today? Can you imagine being ruled at the point of a gun?

How does arming our government secure Democracy? I have this deep sense of foreboding that we’re aiding and abetting our own destruction.

General Douglas MacArthur said, “I am concerned for the security of our great nation, not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within.”

Don’t we need to stop our government? Maybe Fredrick Douglas, going from slave to a nationally honored citizen can give us perspective worth considering. He said, “A man’s rights rest in three boxes, the ballot box, the jury box and the cartridge box.”

Doesn’t democracy only reside in a free people?