Troops training for and fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are firing more than 1 billion bullets a year, contributing to ammunition shortages hitting police departments nationwide and preventing some officers from training with the weapons they carry on patrol.
An Associated Press review of dozens of police and sheriff's departments found that many are struggling with delays of as long as a year for both handgun and rifle ammunition. And the shortages are resulting in prices as much as double what departments were paying just a year ago.
"There were warehouses full of it. Now, that isn't the case," said Al Aden, police chief in Pierre, S.D.
Departments in all parts of the country reported delays or reductions in training and, in at least one case, a proposal to use paint-ball guns in firing drills as a way to conserve real ammo.
Remember, we're fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here. Good thing, too. Paintballs wouldn't deter the terrorists for long...
(Wasn't it Zell Miller who said that Kerry would reduce our armed forces to using spitballs? How ironic.)
Submitted by Carole Borges on Sat, 2007/08/18 - 11:50am.
There were huge campaigns urging Americans to bring every scrap of metal they had in order to make tanks and munitions during WWII. That's what happened to all those beautiful old cast iron sinks and stoves. I don't know what bullets are made of these days. If it's plastic maybe we could recycle all the Chinese toys that were recalled to make new bullets?
Actually, I sort of like the idea of paintball wars, as long as everybody plays by the same paintball rules.
We could have paintball bullets, paintball tanks and artillery, paintball bombs, even paintball nukes (with computer simulated blast radii and extrapolated radiation fatalities based on the paint splat center of impact/detonation.)
Instead of "The object of war is not to die for your country, it's to make the other son of a bitch die for his" (or whatever it was he said), Gen. Patton v2.0 would be "the object of war is to splatter the other son of a bitch from head to toe with non-toxic, water-soluble, washable paint!"
UN referees could monitor and judge all paintball battle outcomes and arbitrate all playground disputes ("it's a lethal hit! no it isn't! yes it is! it barely even nicked me! it killed you! did not! did too!).
Unfortunately for the astute fact checkers over at the AP, the article contains within it, facts that prove that this “serious problem” is almost a complete falsehood.
The US Military does not use any .40, .45, or .38 Special caliber ammunition. The US Military uses only 9mm pistol ammunition, .233 (5.56mm), .308 (7.62mm) rifle ammunition, 12ga shotgun shells, and .50 caliber heavy machine gun rounds.
Police departments nationwide are being squeezed by the increased price of ammunition. Surging demand for ammunition by the US Military has affected the price and availability of certain types of ammunition. What the AP neglects to state is that, fueled by China’s and other developing nation’s voracious appetites for copper, brass, and lead, the price of those metals worldwide has tripled over the past few years. Such demand would have caused the price of ammunition to go up precipitously even if there were no ongoing war or increased US Military demand.
Does the military reload all its expended viable brass, no matter its caliber? No. And therein lies the problem. As a matter of fact it sells a lot of it on the scrap metal market as alloying material. Wholesale dumping it back into the manufacture of rounds would deflate the price of brass component metals and deflate profits.
True happiness is knowing you are a hypocrite. -- Ivor Cutler
There were huge campaigns urging Americans to bring every scrap of metal they had in order to make tanks and munitions during WWII. That's what happened to all those beautiful old cast iron sinks and stoves. I don't know what bullets are made of these days. If it's plastic maybe we could recycle all the Chinese toys that were recalled to make new bullets?
Hadn't hear the name sale out Zell Miller in awhile, where the hell is he and what is he doing?
"...maybe we could recycle all the Chinese toys that were recalled to make new bullets?"
Too much lead in those toys!
One billion bullets per year is an awful lot of intent to do harm. Hard to imagine why those places aren't democratic paradises by now.
And the shortages are resulting in prices as much as double what departments were paying just a year ago.
Isn't it a special kind of bad to double the price on anything needed by both the military and the police at a time like this?
Actually, I sort of like the idea of paintball wars, as long as everybody plays by the same paintball rules.
We could have paintball bullets, paintball tanks and artillery, paintball bombs, even paintball nukes (with computer simulated blast radii and extrapolated radiation fatalities based on the paint splat center of impact/detonation.)
Instead of "The object of war is not to die for your country, it's to make the other son of a bitch die for his" (or whatever it was he said), Gen. Patton v2.0 would be "the object of war is to splatter the other son of a bitch from head to toe with non-toxic, water-soluble, washable paint!"
UN referees could monitor and judge all paintball battle outcomes and arbitrate all playground disputes ("it's a lethal hit! no it isn't! yes it is! it barely even nicked me! it killed you! did not! did too!).
Link...
Does the military reload all its expended viable brass, no matter its caliber? No. And therein lies the problem. As a matter of fact it sells a lot of it on the scrap metal market as alloying material. Wholesale dumping it back into the manufacture of rounds would deflate the price of brass component metals and deflate profits.
True happiness is knowing you are a hypocrite. -- Ivor Cutler
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