The Associated Press has launched a whitewash of the recent controversy which saw numerous different branches of the federal government purchase large quantities of ammunition, focusing on the Social Security Administration’s purchase of 174,000 bullets while completely ignoring a far larger purchase by the DHS which totaled over 1.4 billion bullets.

 

In a story entitled Social Security buys 174,000 hollow-point bullets; Internet bursts with conspiracy theories, which was carried by dozens of major newspapers, the AP quotes an Infowars.com story from last month which reported on the SSA’s purchase of 174,000 rounds of hollow point bullets scheduled to be delivered to 41 locations across the country.

“It’s not outlandish to suggest that the Social Security Administration is purchasing the bullets as part of preparations for civil unrest,” we wrote, making reference to a Department of Homeland Security drill earlier this year called Operation Shield, which included turning the entrance of a Florida Social Security office into a checkpoint manned by Federal Protective Service officers armed with semiautomatic rifles.

The AP whitewash fails to mention the DHS exercise, which was geared towards protecting the Social Security office in the event of civil unrest.