Chuck Baldwin
More government bureaucrats with guns than U.S. Marines
By Chuck Baldwin
Writing for FreeBeacon.com, Elizabeth Harrington summarized a comprehensive report by a taxpayer watchdog group that chronicles the exponential increase in the militarization of police agencies in the United States during the past several years.
Harrington writes, "There are now more non-military government employees who carry guns than there are U.S. Marines, according to a new report.
"Open the Books, a taxpayer watchdog group, released a study Wednesday 2016 that finds domestic government agencies continue to grow their stockpiles of military-style weapons, as Democrats sat on the House floor calling for more restrictions on what guns American citizens can buy.
"The 'Militarization of America' 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.
"'Regulatory enforcement within administrative agencies now carries the might of military-style equipment and weapons,' Open the Books said. 'For example, the Food and Drug Administration includes 183 armed "special agents," a 50 percent increase over the ten years from 1998-2008. At Health and Human Services (HHS), "Special Office of Inspector General Agents" are now trained with sophisticated weaponry by the same contractors who train our military special forces troops.'
"Open the Books found there are now over 200,000 non-military federal officers with arrest and firearm authority, surpassing the 182,100 personnel who are actively serving in the U.S. Marine Corps.
"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.
"The EPA spent $3.1 million on guns, ammo, and equipment, including drones, night vision, 'camouflage and other deceptive equipment,' and body armor."
Harrington continues, "Open the Books appealed to both liberals like Bernie Sanders – who has called for demilitarizing local police departments – and conservatives in its report.
"'Conservatives 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,' Open the Books said. 'One could argue the federal government itself has become a gun show that never adjourns with dozens of agencies continually shopping for new firearms.'"
See the report here:
There Are Now More Bureaucrats With Guns Than U.S. Marines
Most Americans would be shocked if they knew how many millions of rounds of ammunition their local and State police agencies are amassing. And don't let anybody tell you all of this ammunition is for "practice." We are talking about hollow-point pistol rounds and military rifle rounds such as 5.56 and .308 calibers. I would take an educated guess (based on my conversations with both ammunition and arms suppliers and police officers themselves) that your local police agencies have enough ammunition stockpiled to kill the entire population of your community four or five times. But these numbers pale in comparison to the numbers of guns and ammunition being amassed by federal agencies – including agencies that nowhere come close to being categorized as "police" agencies, such as those mentioned in the above report.
To realize that the alphabet agencies of the federal government have more armed agents (assigned to domestic duties) than our premier combat branch of the U.S. military (the U.S. Marines), whose job is to engage America's enemies in direct combat, is a staggering thought. Tell me again exactly who it is that our federal government deems to be the enemy. And they wonder why more and more Americans are arming themselves?
Couple the militarization of our domestic police (and non-police) agencies with the increased call from many in Washington, D.C., to strip the American people of their right to keep and bear arms – especially their right to keep and bear semi-automatic rifles – and one can understand why so many of the American people are "on edge" and have lost all trust in their federal government.
Understanding and acknowledging the Providence of God notwithstanding, the ONLY thing standing between us and abject tyranny is a massively armed citizenry. America is the last nation in the free world that instilled the right to keep and bear arms not only in its Constitution but also in the very heart and soul of its citizens. Should the American citizenry ever cease to be an armed citizenry (and I mean armed with semi-automatic rifles with high-capacity magazines), the entire free world would collapse into the Dark Ages.
I'm saying it straight out: the only reason that Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Sweden, New Zealand, Australia, etc., have the modicum of freedom that they do is because the American citizenry is an armed citizenry. It is NOT the U.S. armed forces that are keeping this country and the rest of Western Civilization free; it is the armed citizenry of America that is protecting whatever vestiges of liberty Western Civilization has left. Disarm the American people and the entire free world falls into the abyss of tyranny and oppression – maybe for a thousand years.
Listen to Daniel Webster: "Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster, and what has happened once in 6000 years, may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution, for if the American Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the world."
When Webster talked about holding onto the Constitution, he was including the Second Amendment to the Constitution. And Daniel Webster was not alone in his veneration for the Second Amendment. To a man, America's Founding Fathers equated the preservation of liberty with the freedom to keep and bear arms.
Listen to our founders:
"What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms." (Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Madison, December 20, 1787)
"Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of." (James Madison, "Federalist No. 46," January 29, 1788)
"To disarm the people...[i]s the most effectual way to enslave them." (George Mason, referencing advice given to the British Parliament by Pennsylvania governor Sir William Keith, "The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution." June 14, 1788)
"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every country in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States. A military force, at the command of Congress, can execute no laws, but such as the people perceive to be just and constitutional; for they will possess the power, and jealousy will instantly inspire the inclination, to resist the execution of a law which appears to them unjust and oppressive." (Noah Webster, "An Examination of the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution," October 10, 1787)
"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined." (Patrick Henry, 3 J. Elliot, Debates in the Several State Conventions 45, 2d ed. Philadelphia, 1836)
"The great object is that every man be armed. . . . Everyone who is able might have a gun." (Patrick Henry, Debate in Virginia Ratifying Convention, Elliot 3:380–95, 400–402, June 14, 1788)
"The supposed quietude of a good man allures the ruffian; while on the other hand, arms like laws discourage and keep the invader and the plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property. The balance of power is the scale of peace. The same balance would be preserved were all the world destitute of arms, for all would be alike; but since some will not, others dare not lay them aside. And while a single nation refuses to lay them down, it is proper that all should keep them up. Horrid mischief would ensue were one-half the world deprived of the use of them; for while avarice and ambition have a place in the heart of man, the weak will become a prey to the strong. The history of every age and nation establishes these truths, and facts need but little arguments when they prove themselves." (Thomas Paine, "Thoughts on Defensive War" in Pennsylvania Magazine, July 1775)
"[I]f circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people while there is a large body of citizens, little, if at all, inferior to them in discipline and the use of arms, who stand ready to defend their own rights and those of their fellow-citizens. This appears to me the only substitute that can be devised for a standing army, and the best possible security against it, if it should exist." (Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 29, January 9, 1788)
What could be plainer? Our Founding Fathers did not engrave the right to keep and bear arms in our Constitution for the purpose of hunting or target shooting or even simply as a deterrent to domestic criminals (as necessary as those things are). No. The purpose of the Second Amendment was to keep the American people FREE, including if our own government was the enemy trying to enslave us.
For the most part, utopian globalists have successfully disarmed the citizens of Western Civilization. All over the "free world" only governments are armed; citizens have been stripped of their right to keep and bear arms. Even the people of Switzerland are extremely regulated in this regard.
Again, I'll say it plainly: if citizens are not able to freely keep and bear semi-automatic rifles, they are effectively DISARMED.
The semi-automatic rifle is to us what the Roman sword was to the people in Jesus' day. It is the preeminent self-defense tool. It is no coincidence that Jesus commanded His disciples to buy a Roman sword, even if they had to sell their clothes to do so. (Luke 22:36) And by the way, it was against the law for Jews to own a Roman sword at that time. That's right: when Jesus told His disciples to buy a sword, He was telling them to break the law. Tell this to your pastor and see what he says. His response will give you a little hint as to 1) his honest understanding of scriptures and 2) his honest commitment to liberty.
I submit that we would not even be having a discussion of this issue if the pastors of America were doing their jobs from the pulpit. Instead of trying to mimic Joel Osteen and Rick Warren, they should be following the example of America's patriot pastors and equipping their people with the Biblical Natural Law principles they need to protect and defend their homes, communities, and country. And that requires teaching them the God-ordained duty of self-defense.
When Barack Obama and Dianne Feinstein tried to make it illegal to possess semi-automatic rifles back in 2013, the vast majority of America's pastors either said absolutely NOTHING or they actually told their churches, "If the government outlaws your guns, Romans 13 tells us to turn them in." NO! Romans 13 teaches NO SUCH THING.
When I realized the dearth of pastoral leadership regarding the Christian duty to keep and bear arms, my attorney son and I wrote a book to teach believers (and anyone else) the scriptural truth regarding their responsibility of self-defense. The book is called "To Keep Or Not To Keep: Why Christians Should Not Give Up Their Guns." We show from the scriptures – all of them, including Romans 13 – that self-defense is much more than a constitutional right: it is a God-ordained DUTY. We show that to surrender our means of self-defense (and that especially includes the semi-automatic rifle) is to DENY the Christian faith.
If readers have not been taught this truth and are in any way uncertain or confused about it, I strongly urge you to get the book. And if you have a pastor or Sunday School teacher that doesn't understand and courageously teach this truth, buy a copy for them.
To order "To Keep Or Not To Keep: Why Christians Should Not Give Up Their Guns," go here:
To Keep Or Not To Keep: Why Christians Should Not Give Up Their Guns
Thankfully, Obama and Feinstein failed to outlaw our semi-automatic rifles back in 2013 (no thanks to most of America's pastors), but you can rest assured if Hillary Clinton is elected the confiscation of our semi-automatic rifles will be NUMBER ONE on the agenda. And even if she isn't elected, Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan are standing in the wings to compromise away every liberty we have – including the right to keep and bear arms.
So, while federal agencies in Washington, D.C., are being increasingly militarized, the American people are being told they need to surrender their means of self-defense. It is no hyperbole to say that the fate of the civilized world rests with the American people – not with the U.S. armed forces, but with a free and resolute armed citizenry.
© Chuck Baldwin
August 6, 2016
Writing for FreeBeacon.com, Elizabeth Harrington summarized a comprehensive report by a taxpayer watchdog group that chronicles the exponential increase in the militarization of police agencies in the United States during the past several years.
Harrington writes, "There are now more non-military government employees who carry guns than there are U.S. Marines, according to a new report.
"Open the Books, a taxpayer watchdog group, released a study Wednesday 2016 that finds domestic government agencies continue to grow their stockpiles of military-style weapons, as Democrats sat on the House floor calling for more restrictions on what guns American citizens can buy.
"The 'Militarization of America' 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.
"'Regulatory enforcement within administrative agencies now carries the might of military-style equipment and weapons,' Open the Books said. 'For example, the Food and Drug Administration includes 183 armed "special agents," a 50 percent increase over the ten years from 1998-2008. At Health and Human Services (HHS), "Special Office of Inspector General Agents" are now trained with sophisticated weaponry by the same contractors who train our military special forces troops.'
"Open the Books found there are now over 200,000 non-military federal officers with arrest and firearm authority, surpassing the 182,100 personnel who are actively serving in the U.S. Marine Corps.
"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.
"The EPA spent $3.1 million on guns, ammo, and equipment, including drones, night vision, 'camouflage and other deceptive equipment,' and body armor."
Harrington continues, "Open the Books appealed to both liberals like Bernie Sanders – who has called for demilitarizing local police departments – and conservatives in its report.
"'Conservatives 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,' Open the Books said. 'One could argue the federal government itself has become a gun show that never adjourns with dozens of agencies continually shopping for new firearms.'"
See the report here:
There Are Now More Bureaucrats With Guns Than U.S. Marines
Most Americans would be shocked if they knew how many millions of rounds of ammunition their local and State police agencies are amassing. And don't let anybody tell you all of this ammunition is for "practice." We are talking about hollow-point pistol rounds and military rifle rounds such as 5.56 and .308 calibers. I would take an educated guess (based on my conversations with both ammunition and arms suppliers and police officers themselves) that your local police agencies have enough ammunition stockpiled to kill the entire population of your community four or five times. But these numbers pale in comparison to the numbers of guns and ammunition being amassed by federal agencies – including agencies that nowhere come close to being categorized as "police" agencies, such as those mentioned in the above report.
To realize that the alphabet agencies of the federal government have more armed agents (assigned to domestic duties) than our premier combat branch of the U.S. military (the U.S. Marines), whose job is to engage America's enemies in direct combat, is a staggering thought. Tell me again exactly who it is that our federal government deems to be the enemy. And they wonder why more and more Americans are arming themselves?
Couple the militarization of our domestic police (and non-police) agencies with the increased call from many in Washington, D.C., to strip the American people of their right to keep and bear arms – especially their right to keep and bear semi-automatic rifles – and one can understand why so many of the American people are "on edge" and have lost all trust in their federal government.
Understanding and acknowledging the Providence of God notwithstanding, the ONLY thing standing between us and abject tyranny is a massively armed citizenry. America is the last nation in the free world that instilled the right to keep and bear arms not only in its Constitution but also in the very heart and soul of its citizens. Should the American citizenry ever cease to be an armed citizenry (and I mean armed with semi-automatic rifles with high-capacity magazines), the entire free world would collapse into the Dark Ages.
I'm saying it straight out: the only reason that Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Sweden, New Zealand, Australia, etc., have the modicum of freedom that they do is because the American citizenry is an armed citizenry. It is NOT the U.S. armed forces that are keeping this country and the rest of Western Civilization free; it is the armed citizenry of America that is protecting whatever vestiges of liberty Western Civilization has left. Disarm the American people and the entire free world falls into the abyss of tyranny and oppression – maybe for a thousand years.
Listen to Daniel Webster: "Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster, and what has happened once in 6000 years, may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution, for if the American Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the world."
When Webster talked about holding onto the Constitution, he was including the Second Amendment to the Constitution. And Daniel Webster was not alone in his veneration for the Second Amendment. To a man, America's Founding Fathers equated the preservation of liberty with the freedom to keep and bear arms.
Listen to our founders:
"What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms." (Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Madison, December 20, 1787)
"Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of." (James Madison, "Federalist No. 46," January 29, 1788)
"To disarm the people...[i]s the most effectual way to enslave them." (George Mason, referencing advice given to the British Parliament by Pennsylvania governor Sir William Keith, "The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution." June 14, 1788)
"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every country in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States. A military force, at the command of Congress, can execute no laws, but such as the people perceive to be just and constitutional; for they will possess the power, and jealousy will instantly inspire the inclination, to resist the execution of a law which appears to them unjust and oppressive." (Noah Webster, "An Examination of the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution," October 10, 1787)
"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined." (Patrick Henry, 3 J. Elliot, Debates in the Several State Conventions 45, 2d ed. Philadelphia, 1836)
"The great object is that every man be armed. . . . Everyone who is able might have a gun." (Patrick Henry, Debate in Virginia Ratifying Convention, Elliot 3:380–95, 400–402, June 14, 1788)
"The supposed quietude of a good man allures the ruffian; while on the other hand, arms like laws discourage and keep the invader and the plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property. The balance of power is the scale of peace. The same balance would be preserved were all the world destitute of arms, for all would be alike; but since some will not, others dare not lay them aside. And while a single nation refuses to lay them down, it is proper that all should keep them up. Horrid mischief would ensue were one-half the world deprived of the use of them; for while avarice and ambition have a place in the heart of man, the weak will become a prey to the strong. The history of every age and nation establishes these truths, and facts need but little arguments when they prove themselves." (Thomas Paine, "Thoughts on Defensive War" in Pennsylvania Magazine, July 1775)
"[I]f circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people while there is a large body of citizens, little, if at all, inferior to them in discipline and the use of arms, who stand ready to defend their own rights and those of their fellow-citizens. This appears to me the only substitute that can be devised for a standing army, and the best possible security against it, if it should exist." (Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 29, January 9, 1788)
What could be plainer? Our Founding Fathers did not engrave the right to keep and bear arms in our Constitution for the purpose of hunting or target shooting or even simply as a deterrent to domestic criminals (as necessary as those things are). No. The purpose of the Second Amendment was to keep the American people FREE, including if our own government was the enemy trying to enslave us.
For the most part, utopian globalists have successfully disarmed the citizens of Western Civilization. All over the "free world" only governments are armed; citizens have been stripped of their right to keep and bear arms. Even the people of Switzerland are extremely regulated in this regard.
Again, I'll say it plainly: if citizens are not able to freely keep and bear semi-automatic rifles, they are effectively DISARMED.
The semi-automatic rifle is to us what the Roman sword was to the people in Jesus' day. It is the preeminent self-defense tool. It is no coincidence that Jesus commanded His disciples to buy a Roman sword, even if they had to sell their clothes to do so. (Luke 22:36) And by the way, it was against the law for Jews to own a Roman sword at that time. That's right: when Jesus told His disciples to buy a sword, He was telling them to break the law. Tell this to your pastor and see what he says. His response will give you a little hint as to 1) his honest understanding of scriptures and 2) his honest commitment to liberty.
I submit that we would not even be having a discussion of this issue if the pastors of America were doing their jobs from the pulpit. Instead of trying to mimic Joel Osteen and Rick Warren, they should be following the example of America's patriot pastors and equipping their people with the Biblical Natural Law principles they need to protect and defend their homes, communities, and country. And that requires teaching them the God-ordained duty of self-defense.
When Barack Obama and Dianne Feinstein tried to make it illegal to possess semi-automatic rifles back in 2013, the vast majority of America's pastors either said absolutely NOTHING or they actually told their churches, "If the government outlaws your guns, Romans 13 tells us to turn them in." NO! Romans 13 teaches NO SUCH THING.
When I realized the dearth of pastoral leadership regarding the Christian duty to keep and bear arms, my attorney son and I wrote a book to teach believers (and anyone else) the scriptural truth regarding their responsibility of self-defense. The book is called "To Keep Or Not To Keep: Why Christians Should Not Give Up Their Guns." We show from the scriptures – all of them, including Romans 13 – that self-defense is much more than a constitutional right: it is a God-ordained DUTY. We show that to surrender our means of self-defense (and that especially includes the semi-automatic rifle) is to DENY the Christian faith.
If readers have not been taught this truth and are in any way uncertain or confused about it, I strongly urge you to get the book. And if you have a pastor or Sunday School teacher that doesn't understand and courageously teach this truth, buy a copy for them.
To order "To Keep Or Not To Keep: Why Christians Should Not Give Up Their Guns," go here:
To Keep Or Not To Keep: Why Christians Should Not Give Up Their Guns
Thankfully, Obama and Feinstein failed to outlaw our semi-automatic rifles back in 2013 (no thanks to most of America's pastors), but you can rest assured if Hillary Clinton is elected the confiscation of our semi-automatic rifles will be NUMBER ONE on the agenda. And even if she isn't elected, Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan are standing in the wings to compromise away every liberty we have – including the right to keep and bear arms.
So, while federal agencies in Washington, D.C., are being increasingly militarized, the American people are being told they need to surrender their means of self-defense. It is no hyperbole to say that the fate of the civilized world rests with the American people – not with the U.S. armed forces, but with a free and resolute armed citizenry.
© Chuck Baldwin
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
