Iraqmire is Making Us Safer At Home

This story was in our local newspaper yesterday. If it’s happening here, it’s probably happening all over the country.

Local police departments are dealing with a shortage of ammunition. Our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are using more than one billion bullets a year. This means there aren't enough bullets for our local police officers, and crime has been rising.

If the police have finally cornered a predator who's been preying on YOUR neighborhood, they might or might not have enough ammunition, or the right training, to subdue this person.

Mike Powell, Police Chief of Forks, WA said “We have been waiting for months for handgun ammunition. We were told it was due to the war and that the military service personnel get a higher priority than the law enforcement here in the states.”

Not only is there a massive shortage of ammunition; shipments keep getting delayed. Orders that would usually take two weeks are taking several months or even a year. And on top of that, ammunition prices have doubled since last year.

Police forces use most of their ammunition for training purposes. Sacrificing some of this training will have deadly consequences for police officers in the line of duty. Readiness, accuracy and quick decision-making are all dependent on constant training.

Clallam County Undersheriff Ron Peregrine said “They are used in training that we require with our rifles that we require our officers to qualify with once a year. When you are using something that can have deadly force, you want training and you want ammunition to do that with…We have to literally hunt for anything we can use for training."

A spokesman for the Seattle Police Department said “The better-trained officer is the one that is less likely to use force."

To paraphrase Bush’s favorite soundbite: Since we’re fighting them over there, we CAN'T fight them over here.

Do you feel safer yet?