It seems bulletproof vests might now become a necessary part of our income tax preparations. The Internal Revenue Service has issued a tender for the purchase of:
… sixty Remington Model 870 Police RAMAC #24587 12 gauge pump-action shotguns for the Criminal Investigation Division. The Remington parkerized shotguns, with fourteen inch barrel, modified choke, Wilson Combat Ghost Ring rear sight and XS4 Contour Bead front sight, Knoxx Reduced Recoil Adjustable Stock, and Speedfeed ribbed black forend, are designated as the only shotguns authorized for IRS duty based on compatibility with IRS existing shotgun inventory, certified armorer and combat training and protocol, maintenance, and parts.
I fail to see why the IRS needs its own law enforcement agents. Perhaps it’s caught up in memories of the Prohibition era? Surely a central Federal law enforcement agency could handle arrests, etc. for it and many other agencies too? As it is, every Tom, Dick and Harry agency in the federal government seems to want its own law enforcement division – there are dozens of them, all with powers of arrest and the right to use force to do so. Even the Department of Education notoriously bought shotguns for its agents not too long ago. That’s hard-core detention right there!
Tax collectors – 2,700 more tax collectors – some of them armed with shotguns. I wonder what the Founding Fathers would have had to say about that? I know what the Governor of Maine thinks of the agency . . . and I suspect he may be channeling the Founders very accurately! Many of us would agree with him. I’d be interested to learn which is the most despised Federal agency: the IRS, the TSA or the ATF. Tough choice . . .
Peter
"Why" is all too easy to understand, in all these examples. As more Americans seek to live their lives away from the Nanny State, it becomes imperative to bring the recalcitrant ones back into the fold. And consider how many "self-exiles" are now ready for the next Ruby Ridge…
Antibubba
Which means, unfortunately, that the next Ruby Ridge or Waco is going to look an awful lot like the Warsaw ghetto uprising. Maybe Lon can get a transfer to the IRS and notch a few more Kill Marks for his H-S rifle before he's done on this earth.
What Shrimp said.
Shrimp:
you would think that with the example of Germany in the '30-40's, the Jews around the world would be the most heavily armed group ever. Nope. I worked for a company founded and crewed by Israelis. In talks with them, they did not understand why we here in the US would be inclined to own battle rifles and other such weapons. I guess worldwide propaganda is so pervasive, that even those raised in Israel don't comprehend lessons they should have learned with their mother's milk.
Must be a human trait to wait until the end is near, before planning to fight, ala the British in WWII, and the Warsaw Uprising, for examples.
You left out the DEA.