CNSNews reports that the Social Security Administration (SSA) is planning to purchase 174,000 hollow point bullets and explained why it was doing so on a blog posting on the agency’s “Beyond the Numbers” website.
According to CNSNews:
SSA posted a ‘Request for Quote for Ammunition‘ on the FedBizOps.gov website on Aug. 7. The request listed the commodity that SSA desired as ‘.357 Sig 125 grain bonded jacketed hollow point pistol ammunition.’ The quantity listed was ‘174 TH.’
According to CNSNews, the SSA explained the bullets were for its special agents, and SSA has 295 special agents who work in 66 offices across the United States.
“These investigators have full law enforcement authority, including executing search warrants and making arrests,” the blog post states, noting that the “investigators are similar to your State or local police officers” and “use traditional investigative techniques, and they are armed when on official duty.”
The blog posting also notes that the bullets were “standard issue for many law enforcement agencies” and SSA agents need to be properly armed because they “not only investigate allegations of Social Security fraud, but they also are called to respond to threats against Social Security offices, employees, and customers.”
According to CNSNews, the agency did not answer its question about “why it needed 174,000 bullets and if that quantity was customary or had increased from previous orders.”