According to thehill.com, the Department of Justice is conducting an inventory of Uncle Sam’s firearms-enabled forces. Again, not the number of guns bought, maintained or funneled to fascist dictators, Mexican drug cartel members and Libyan “freedom fighters.” The number of people employed by the feds who’ve been issued a firearm and given the power of arrest. So . . . federal agents. “It is not clear when the data will be finalized, though the final release could take until early 2015.” We’ll wait. Meanwhile, whatdaya reckon? How many armed federales are living the ballistic lifestyle on your dime? Winner gets a box of ammo (their choice of caliber). Here are some clues . . .
Six years ago, the Justice Department found that 73 government agencies employed about 120,000 armed agents . . .
From 2004 to 2008, the government added about 15,000 armed agents, the earlier Justice report found. During that time period, an additional eight agencies began employing armed units.
One more hint: the number has not decreased.