First was the ammunition, now comes the weapons

Keep the people ignorant and afraid and control and power becomes a detail – a self-generating byproduct of the people’s hysteria . . . The universal methodology of the tyrant is always incrementalism. -- Derek Audette

James Smith, Contributor

First came the ammunition requests, and now it’s time for the weapons. The incremental creep of arming government thugs continues one step at a time, one breath at a time, until it becomes one American death at a time.

Department of Homeland Security has placed an initial order of up to 7,000 5.56x45mm North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) personal defense weapons (PDW), with a contract life of 5 years, to numerous Department of Homeland Security components, which includes Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC).

The winner of the contract would receive the assured minimum is $30,000 but not to exceed the maximum ceiling of $9,800,000.
What is the 5.56x45mm?

From Wikipedia:

The 5.56×45mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 5.56 NATO) is a rifle cartridge developed in the United States and originally chambered in the M16 rifle. Under STANAG 4172, it is a standard cartridge for NATO forces as well as many non-NATO countries.[2] It is derived from, but not identical to, the .223 Remington cartridge. When the bullet impacts at high velocity and yaws[3] in tissue, fragmentation creates a rapid transfer of energy which can result in dramatic wounding effects.[4][5][6]

However, the DHS (except the Secret Service) has not purchased ANY 5.56x45 ammunition in the past year. Which means hundreds of millions of 5.56x45 ammunition will need to be purchased. The closest round that they have purchased is the .223 Remington, when they purchased 375 million rounds earlier this year.

But it’s not a perfect match and that could cause problems:

Using commercial .223 Remington cartridges in a 5.56 mm NATO chambered rifle should work reliably, but generally will not be as accurate as when fired from a .223 Remington chambered gun due to the longer lead.[29] Using 5.56 mm NATO mil-spec cartridges (such as the M855) in a .223 Remington chambered rifle can lead to excessive wear and stress on the rifle and even be unsafe, and SAAMI recommends against the practice.[30][31] Some commercial rifles marked as '.223 Remington' are in fact suited for 5.56 mm NATO, such as many commercial AR-15 variants and theRuger Mini-14 (marked ".223 cal"), but the manufacturer should always be consulted to verify that this is acceptable before attempting it, and signs of excessive pressure (such as flattening or gas staining of the primers) should be looked for in the initial testing with 5.56 mm NATO ammunition.[32]

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What fires the 5.56 ammunition?

Wikipedia holds that answer as well:

Many nations (both NATO and non-NATO members) use the 5.56 mm NATO cartridgein their rifles. Examples include: 

Argentina FARA 83Australian F88 Austeyr assault rifle and F89 Minimi machine gun. (ADI Thales also supplies ammunition)
Austrian Steyr AUG and the Steyr ACR (Flechette) assault rifle
Belgium: CAL, Minimi, FNC, SCAR, F2000.
Bulgaria: Arsenal AD AR series
Brazil: IMBEL MD2, LAPA FA-03Chinese QBZ-97, QBZ-03, CQ 5.56, QBB-97, KBU-97ACanadian Colt Canada C7 rifle, C8 rifle and the C9Croatia: HS Produkt VHS Assault rifle (VHS-K (short version) and VHS-D (long version))
Czech Republic: CZ-805 BRENFrench: FAMASGeorgian: G5 carbineGermany: HK33,HK53, HK13E, HK23E, G41, G36, MG4, HK416, RH-70Indian INSAS assault rifle
Indonesian PINDAD SS1 and SS2 assault rifles
Iranian Khaybar KH2002Israeli IMI Negev, IMI Galil assault rifle and Tavor TAR-21bullpup assault rifle
Italian AR70/90, Franchi mod. 641, SOCIMI AR-831Japanese Howa Type 89MalaysianVB Berapi LP06 assault rifle
Mexican FX-05 Xiuhcoatl assault rifle
Peruvian FAD assault rifle, Diseños Casanave SC-2005Philippine MSSR sniper rifle and Special Operations Assault Rifle (SOAR).
Polish Kbk wz. 1996 Mini-Beryl and Beryl wz.96 assault rifles
Russian AK-101, AK-102, AK-108, AK-12 and KBP A-91Serbian M85/M90 andM21Singaporean SR-88 and SAR-21 assault rifles and Ultimax 100 machine gun
South African Vektor R4 series of rifles and carbines, Truvelo Raptor, Vektor CR-21assault rifle and Mini-SS machine gun
South Korean K1, K2 assault rifles, and K3 machine gun
Swedish Ak 5 system, derived from the Belgian FN FNC assault rifle
Swiss SIG 530/540/550 series, with lesser performances than the round for which it was initially designed, the Gw Pat.90 cartridge
Taiwan: T65 Assault Rifle, T86 assault rifle and T91 Assault Rifle.
Thailand: Rung Paisarn RPS-001Turkish Safir T-15 and Safir T-17United Kingdom:Sterling SAR-87, SA80 series rifles.
US M16 rifle series, M4 Carbine, US/German HK-416, US/Belgian M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, and US/Belgian Mk. 16 SCAR-L 

Examples of rifles marketed for non-military applications that can take the 5.56 cartridge include: 

Bushmaster_ACR assault rifle
Kel-Tec SU-16 series semi-automatic rifles
Saiga 223 semi-automatic rifle
Remington Model 7615 Police Patrol RifleRemington Model 700 series bolt-action rifle
Ruger Mini-14 semi-automatic rifle
Steyr Scout series bolt-action rifle
Winchester Model 70 series bolt-action rifle
Volquartsen Evolution autoloading competition/varmint rifle
Smith & Wesson M&P15 semi automatic ar-15 rifle
Bushmaster_Firearms_International#Carbon_15 semi automatic carbon polymer based ar-15 rifle

Gee, look at all the foreign troops weaponry that could use the ammunition that we, the United States Taxpayers will have to purchase for them to try to put us into camps. Stalin's promise to hang us, with the rope he purchased from us, is coming so eerily true.

But the most likely of these will be the Colt M-4 Carbine. FLETC has ordered forty for testing purposes recently; however, the M-4 has its problems with performance.

Sgt. Charles Perales of Fort Bragg, NC had this to say in a letter reprinted by Defense News:

My unit – B Company, 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment – was deployed to Afghanistan from April 2005 to March 2006. While there, we were attached to Special Forces at Camp Tillman on the Afghan border…. I saw first-hand what happens when your weapon jams up because of the harsh environments we have to call home there. An 18B weapons sergeant was shot in the face due directly to his weapon jamming. I just can’t believe that after things like this happen, the Army is still buying more M4s.

In essence: More weapons, more ammunition.

But what of more freedoms?

This article first appeared at Prepper Podcast Radio Network. 

Read other articles by James Smith HERE.

James is a father of four and grandfather to four. He and his wife of almost 30 years have been prepping since 2003. They live in a small town, with neighbors as close as 10 feet away and have raised chickens for 2 years covertly on less than 1/5 of an acre. He is a former corrections officer, insurance fraud investigator, and he served in the Navy for 6 years. He currently works for a corporation dealing with the disabled population and their benefits. He is the host of The Covert Prepper show and the Prepper Podcast Radio Network News, both heard on Blogtalk Radio.

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