The federal government has 263,733,362 rounds of ammunition, according to a federal report released April 1.
Prompted by public requests, U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) asked for information about the Department of Homeland Security’s spending for ammunition over the last three fiscal years, according to Mark Rockwell of Government Security News. Coburn is the minority leader of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Of the seven agencies under Homeland Security, fourCustoms and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Transportation Security Administration and Secret Servicemade up about two-thirds of the $122.7 million spent on ammunition since 2010.
ICE plans on using 1,000 rounds per firearm per year to cover operations, training and other quarterly proficiency tests, according to the report.
The Denver Post reported on Feb. 15 that Homeland Security plans to buy at least 1.6 billion rounds by either 2017 or 2018. Based on the amount of bullets used in the Iraq warless than 6 million a month, according to Forbes.com1.6 billion is enough to wage a war for about 20 years.
