Rep. Gaetz May Have Only Scratched The Surface Of Federal Government’s Armed Agents

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz for the past few weeks has cautioned against the increased arming of the IRS. But the Fort Walton Beach Republican may ha

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz for the past few weeks has cautioned against the increased arming of the IRS.

But the Fort Walton Beach Republican may have only scratched the surface of the issue concerning the militarization of federal administrative agencies.

In a recent column, John & Nisha Whitehead, president and executive director of the Rutherford Institute, respectively, highlighted how many heavily armed federal agents work outside agencies such as the Justice Department of the Department of Homeland Security.

They cite a December 2020 report by a group called OpenTheBooks.org, which calls for increased transparency within the federal government. Some highlights from that report:

Between 2015 and 2019, 76 different federal administrative agencies spent a total of $111 million on guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment.

Those included agencies such as the Small Business Administration, the Smithsonian Institution, the Social Security Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Education, and even the Animal Health Inspection Service and National Gallery of Art.

Of course, Gaetz has a point about the IRS. The congressman noted that the agency has spent about $700,000 on ammo just between March 2022 and June 2022.

In the news: Sen. Joe Manchin May Still Have An Ace Up His Sleeve

That was 20 percent of the total the IRS spent on ammo between 2015 and 2019, according to Open the Books.

In the big picture, the group noted, the federal government now has 200,000 law enforcement officers with “arrest and firearm authority.” That’s 10 percent larger than the U.S. Marine Corps, which has about 182,000 Marines.

In their column, the Whiteheads noted, “We have what the founders feared most: a ‘standing’ or permanent army on American soil. … Mind you, this de facto standing army of bureaucratic, administrative, non-military, paper-pushing, non-traditional law enforcement agencies may look and act like the military, but they are not the military.”

“Rather,” they added, “they are foot soldiers of the police state’s standing army, and they are growing in number at an alarming rate.”

“The menace of a national police force — a.k.a. a standing army — vested with the power to completely disregard the Constitution, cannot be overstated, nor can its danger be ignored,” the Whiteheads argued.

“We are sliding fast down a slippery slope to a Constitution-free America. … All of these assaults on the constitutional framework of the nation have been sold to the public as necessary for national security. Time and again, the public has fallen for the ploy hook, line, and sinker. We’re being reeled in, folks, and you know what happens when we get to the end of that line?”

In the news: Rep. Gaetz Easily Wins GOP Primary, Predicted To Sail Past Disgraced Liberal Challenging Him In November

In his podcast last week, Michael Boldin, executive director of the Tenth Amendment Center, discussed the Whiteheads’ column, and suggested Americans need to pay more attention to the arming of bureaucrats.

“When government tells you it’s for your safety, more often than not, maybe all the time, it really means so we can control you,” he said.

“It’s insane the amount of loot that they’re stealing from us to equip their people with probably a lot of weaponry that they don’t want you to ever be able to have access to.”

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Free Press.

Visit Tampafp.com for Politics, Tampa Area Local News, Sports, and National Headlines. Support journalism by clicking here to our GiveSendGo or sign up for our free newsl etter by clicking here.