The Department of Education Orders 27 Sawed Off Shotguns and RightWingers Panic

This is not a repeat of this story here about the EPA who ordered 40 Glock handguns. In this case, the Department of Education, who everyone assumes just writes schoolbooks or something, is ordering sawed-off shotguns, which are typically used in close-quarter combat when swat teams bust down doors, and the same bloggers, most of whom I enjoy, are a bit alarmed over the purchase.

The purchase request is here at the FBO site. Moonbattery has a post on it here. Rob Taylors awesome Red Alerts has it here, where he writes:

But short barrels are often used by military and law enforcement for entry teams who need small but powerful weapons for urban assaults and house to house fighting. If you were going to kick in the front door of an apartment and wanted to carry something with more knockdown power than a pistol (or a carbine chambered in a pistol caliber) but that would be easy to maneuver in the tight confines of a hallway or foyer, a short barreled shotgun fits the bill.

But why does the Department of Education need a shotgun seemingly designed for kicking in doors anyway?

The answer is that you must seriously consider what this Government Department has to do. They must enforce anti-fraud for one of the largest slushfunds of cash in Government. They give out more cash than just about any other organization and fraud and abuse if RIFE. And the Office of Inspectors General of Department of Education are deputized by the Justice Department under a 1978 Federal law that gives them the power to make arrests in cases dealing in their jurisdiction, namely, enforcing fraud in dealing with people stealing cash from the program.

Now think about this- Where do the largest amounts of money go, and therefore, where would the highest rates of fraud exist? In rural republican districts or heavily democrat inner city urban centers?

If you had to go after a bunch of community organizers who made off with 600K of funds in a dilapidated slum, wouldn’t you want a sawed off shotgun to do it?

Take a look at their reports. Most of these fraud cases happen in Democrat run cities.

I don’t blame my fellow right bloggers for being worried. But they live far enough outside of the beltway that they only perceive Washington as a gigantic faceless evil bureaucracy bent on the destruction of freedom. But I deal with these guys on a daily basis and they aren’t faceless to me. All of these agencies are staffed by my neighbors and most try to do a good job for the country. And battling fraud is a good thing.