Last August, one pro-gun conspiracy theory had announced that the U.S. government was stockpiling ammo to declare martial law and shoot gun owners.
Now, in a sad derivative of that original conspiracy theory, at least four GOP lawmakers, Sen. James Inhofe and Rep. Frank Lucas, from Oklahoma, Rep. Doug LaMalfa of California, and Rep Jim Jordan of Ohio, are suggesting that President Obama and various departments are stockpiling ammo again. But instead of wanting to wage war on gun owners, now they want to do it to drive up ammo costs and keep gun owners from buying the ammo, and have gone so far in their lunacy to introduce a bill against the supposed practice.
From an article:
The Hill reports:
Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe and Rep. Frank Lucas have introduced a bill that would prohibit every government agency — except the military — from buying more ammunition each month, than the monthly average it purchased from 2001 to 2009.
The lawmakers say the Obama administration is buying up exceedingly high levels of ammunition in an attempt to limit the number of bullets the American public have access to on the open marketplace.Inhofe argued that Obama has been “adamant about curbing law-abiding Americans’ access and opportunities to exercise their Second Amendment rights,” and that “One way the Obama Administration is able to do this is by limiting what’s available in the market with federal agencies purchasing unnecessary stockpiles of ammunition.”
On Tuesday, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, had a similar conversation with Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council on Sandy Rios’ radio show, noting that he’s been “buying my kids ammo instead of saving bonds.”
“That’s part of the concern is that this is another way for the president to keep Americans from having ammo by having the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies buy it all up,” Perkins said. “Yep,” replied Jordan.
Others, including Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, and Fox Business’s Lou Dobbs, have had related concerns about the government “arming up.”
Similar versions of this theory have been floating around the right for some time.
Politifact Texas found it to be “mostly false” when a chain email suggested last year that the DHS was preparing for “massive civil unrest” by stockpiling ammo.
Of course, they have zero evidence that the government is actually doing this. But they wouldn't want facts to stand in the way of their paranoia.
In fact, even the NRA (no stranger to putting out conspiracy theories of their own!) has debunked the previous version of this conspiracy theory. From another article:
Last fall, the NRA issued a statement saying the claim was being pushed in an “Internet rumor mill” and was designed to “stir up fear.” The “more incendiary authors,” the group said, “suggest that these government agencies are preparing for a war with the American people.”Just another wacko pro-gun conspiracy theory!
ADDENDUM (5/15/13): Here is the snopes.com debunking of this conspiracy theory: http://www.snopes.com/politics/guns/ssabullets.asp
