Last night we put up a post mentioning that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) placed a request for 46,000 rounds of mostly hollow point, copper jacketed, .40 caliber rounds of ammunition.
The order was attributed to the National Weather Service and received quite a bit of attention.
From the post:
The National Weather Service stations in Ellsworth, Maine, and New Bedford, Mass., are slated to receive 16,000 rounds of .40 S&W jacketed hollow point (JHP) bullets.
Jacketed hollow points usually have a layer of copper around the lead to provide strength and prevent the barrel of the gun getting fouled up with soft lead. Hollow point bullets are designed to expand when they enter the body, causing as much damage as possible to internal organs and tissue. They've been illegal in international warfare since 1899.
6,000 rounds of S&W JHP will be sent to Wall, New Jersey and another 24,000 rounds of the same bullets will be handed over to the station in St. Petersburg, Florida.
St. Pete. is the only city that's not receiving 100 or more paper targets to assist with training of agency issued sidearms. Two hundred targets are going to Maine and Massachusetts, but only 100 to New Jersey. So, 46,000 rounds and 500 targets.
We talked to Scott Smullen, the Deputy Director of NOAA Communications & External Affairs who says the announcement is a mistake and is apparently being corrected at the time of this writing.
From Scott's email:
Due to a clerical error in the federal business vendor process, a solicitation for ammunition and targets for the NOAA Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement mistakenly identified NOAA's National Weather Service as the requesting office. The error is being fixed and will soon appear correctly in the electronic federal bidding system. The ammunition is standard issue for many law enforcement agencies and it will be used by 63 NOAA enforcement personnel in their firearms qualifications and training.
Last night's post mentions that the "NOAA overseas the National Marine Fisheries Service, which is responsible for all U.S. marine resources. The acquisition mentions this agency, NMFS and the OLE — Office of law Enforcement."
The reason for the number of rounds is explained in a follow up question:
Agents and officers are required to have 200 rounds in his or her duty bag, and twice-a-year firearm qualification and training calls for agents to use another 500-600 rounds. In addition, firearms instructors with more than one pistol may need more rounds in a year. In 2011, the guidance was that each agent and officer would need 700 rounds per year to meet these requirements.
Smullen says there are 111 special agents and 23 enforcement officers, bringing the total number of OLE agents to 134. "And here," he says, "is a succinct way of explaining what OLE folks do:"
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.
From the NOAA Office of Law Enforcement website:
NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement is dedicated to enforcing laws that conserve and protect our nation's living marine resources and their natural habitat. Our goal is to assure that the many people who enjoy these resources for recreation or rely on them for business follow the rules that will maintain the species for future generations.
NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement protects fish stocks from depletion and marine mammals from extinction. We also protect the livelihoods of commercial fishers, the hobbies of recreational fishers, and the health of seafood consumers.
Extensive Area of Jurisdiction
NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement is responsible for carrying out more than 35 federal statutes. The agency's jurisdiction spans more than 3 million square miles of open ocean, more than 85,000 miles of U.S. coastline, the country's 13 National Marine Sanctuaries and its Marine National Monuments. It's also responsible for enforcing U.S. treaties and international law governing the high seas and international trade.
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