An Open Letter to SC Senators Graham and Scott

Dear Senators Graham and Scott:

I'll make this short. The Department of Homeland Security is frightening me. It is purchasing outrageous amounts of ammunition (1.6 billion rounds) and almost 3,000 mine-resistant ambush-protected armored personnel carriers (FORBES).    

It's hard to get one's mind around 1.6 billion rounds, but statistics show it's enough ammunition to carry on the greatest firepower month in the Iraq war for more than 20 years. (DENVER POST). Additionally, DHS has placed an order for 7,000 fully automatic assault rifles, which have clips of 30 rounds. These weapons are described as “personal defense weapons.” (See NATURAL NEWS)

Incredibly, DHS paid $2 million for a contractor to prepare shooting targets of non-traditional combatants. Specifically, these would be children, pregnant women, and elderly people. The idea is to desensitize homeland security agents toward killing civilians (see INFOWARS).

From my understanding, the DHS has no war mission and no war-making authority within the United States. So there exists only two logical explanations to be deduced from these DHS actions: 1) the DHS is preparing to engage the citizens of the United States in actual warfare. (The ammunition being purchased is “hollow point” which is designed for killing and not target practice, see PURCHASE ORDER). 2) When it comes to spending, particularly in a time when we’re told things are going to become difficult for all of us as budget constraints kick in to curtail our trillions of dollars in debt, the Department of Homeland Security is answering to nobody. It seems that even on a five-year bulk buy, we’re spending significantly more, not the same or less (according to the DHS, they procured 148 million rounds in 2012).

The DHS has apparently refused to answer to Congress for its actions. An article on the Huffington Post back in February, quoting Peggy Dixon, spokeswoman for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia, explained the giant buy this way: "Federal solicitations to buy the bullets are known as 'strategic sourcing contracts,' which help the government get a low price for a big purchase." Others claim it's not a direct purchase but a contract to purchase over the next five years, and that hollow point bullets are standard in training exercises.

Please look into this matter, and help your constituents sort out truth from fact. There is quite a bit of conflicting information floating around on this topic. In the meantime, I cannot think of a more important national issue. Can you stop this waste of our tax money? Can you stop the developing fear that, if we citizens speak our mind, government punishment may descend upon us? Along these lines, I am reminded we have lost privacy as a result of the Patriot Act. The government is allowed to listen to our phone conversations and to intercept our e-mail. Further, there is debate as to whether the government can utilize drones to kill citizens of the United States without a trial. Finally, there is the effort to limit the types of weapons, size of ammunition clips, and sales of weapons within the U.S. All these issues are coalescing to create a rational state of fear toward our government.    

I look forward to hearing from you in terms of your investigation into these matters.

Sincerely and respectfully,

JOHN F. ABESS, M.D.