Agencies tamp down speculation over hollow-point ammo purchases
If you're wondering what the big deal is, and you have no idea about guns and ammunition, hollow point bullets are designed to kill, dismember, maim or otherwise permanently disable a person if you hit them at all with the bullet.
This is what they do inside the human body:
To put this in perspective, the Geneva Convention does not permit their use on the battlefield. However, agents of the US government are allowed to stockpile hundreds of thousands of rounds. In the words of yet another tedious bureaucrat, "...the type is "standard issue" and is used during 'mandatory quarterly firearms qualifications and other training sessions.'"
Pretty extravagant using flesh crushing hollow points on paper targets. I use target ammo, myself, as it's cheaper and, depending on the range, less likely to blow through the target, the wall behind it, and the cars in the parking lot.
This was my favorite quotation, though, summing up why the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration needs 46,000 rounds of maiming/killing power: "NOAA officers and agents enforce the nation's ocean and fishing laws to ensure a level playing field for fishermen and to protect marine species like whales, dolphins and turtles...."
Kind of brings all new meaning to "saving the whales", doesn't it?