The EPA Orders 40 Glock Handguns and RightWingers Panic

Several fellow right wing bloggers are a bit alarmed about this EPA sole-source purchase request notice posted on EPA.gov for 40 brand new Glock G19 handguns. They fear that with the new government regulations classifying CO2 as a pollutant that the EPA will start arresting those (and possibly shooting them too) that are producing too much of a Carbon footprint. Its just not the case.

I work with Federal Agencies all of the time and am often surprised at the types of businesses they engage in, such as the packaging and shipping of human brains. But I do know, that as a course of doing business, every Federal Agency has at the very least, an Inspector’s General office, which is staffed by armed agents who are charged with protecting the agency and authorized to arrest criminals under their direct purview. How many agents they have and how many arrests they make depends on the size of the agency. As I noted on Rob Taylor’s Red Alerts blog here, who was also skeptical about the alarmism,

I work with many of these agencies and am often amused that some of these small agencies have armed personnel. The USDA, who inspect cattle and radishes have agents that carry guns. The USGS, who take mineral samples to determine coal or iron content, and who make maps, have agents that carry guns. Ditto Postal Inspector of the Post Office. Bureau of Land Management? Yep. Bureau of Indian Affairs? Yep. Even the Federal Election Commission and the Railroad Retirement Board.

And yeah, its all constitutional. Think about the specialized missions of some of these agencies. USDA makes laws governing the processing of livestock. What if someone tried to process infected animals like chickens or BSE cattle? For USGS, what if someone was salting a mine or trying to sell a dry oil well? Yeah, federal agencies make laws that they are charged to enforce, and all of them have IG’s to make sure they toe the line with what Congress tells them to do.

So many people that are far removed from the DC Metro area often have misconceptions that Government is comprised of a bunch of nameless, soulless, bureaucrats, but actually, many of the ones who administer these agencies work their butts off in a thankless job. And for the most part, they are all my neighbors too- we eat in the same restaurants, drink the same beer, go to the same sporting events.

Its the elected officials who impose their will and force these agencies to intrude into our lives that is usually the problem. But on the other hand, when I’m dumping used motor oil down the gutter in the next neighborhood over, I don’t think I will be able to keep from laughing if someone shouts “Freeze! It’s the EPA!”