Homeland Security Contracts with ATK for Massive Order of Hollow Point Ammunition

WASHINGTON, DC – The Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have awarded defense contractor ATK with an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) agreement for .40 caliber hollow point ammunition. According to an official ATK press release, the order could reach a maximum of 450 million rounds over the next five years.

The following is an excerpt from the press release:

ATK announced that it is being awarded an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) agreement from the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (DHS, ICE) for .40 caliber ammunition. This contract features a base of 12 months, includes four option years, and will have a maximum volume of 450 million rounds.

ATK was the incumbent and won the contract with its HST bullet, which has proven itself in the field. […]

This is not the first time DHS has placed such an order. In 2009, it entered into a contract agreement with Winchester for the purchase of 200 million hollow points.

The hollow point is so named because it features a pitted or hollow tip intended to expand upon entering its target. ATK says its hollow point ammunition is “engineered for 100-percent weight retention, limits collateral damage, and avoids over-penetration”.

More than one munitions expert is asking what DHS intends to do with 450 million rounds of barrier-piercing hollow point ammunition. Practice rounds are always Full Metal Jacket, meaning they have a solid tip. The far more expensive hollow point is designed to shred internal organs upon impact. It’s the kind of ammunition used by law enforcement and the military where the intention is to shatter the target’s sternum as quickly as possible and thereby bring him to the ground where he bleeds out from internal tissue trauma.

The DHS is a solely domestic agency and does not engage in wars overseas. That it is contracting to buy 450 million rounds of hollow point ammo can only mean DHS foresees needing this ammo for use against the American people. The appearance is that DHS and ICE feel they need 450 million rounds of hollow point ammo to keep the American people in line.

Other gun experts say the order may seem unusually high, but it is not necessarily unusual. They claim the large purchase reflects a long-running practice by DHS and law enforcement agencies to use any remaining budget surplus on items routinely used. The idea being that if an agency does not use its entire budget in expenditures, the government will lower its budget the following year.

Another factor that is curious if not troubling is that this order comes at a time when guns sales are at an all time high. This kind of massive order will decrease retail availability of hollow points, drive up demand, and hence price for such ammunition. Whether the consequence is an intended one, remains to be seen.

Whether this is a calculated move by the government to curb ammunition availability to civilians, prepare for some future domestic action, or simply another way for it to spend money is yet be seen.