Government Loses More Guns.

From: Right To Bear Blog

How A Relatively Unknown 3-Letter Government Agency Managed To Lose Hundreds of Weapons

If  you’ve been then you understand there are a lot of three letter government agencies out there who are gobbling up large amounts of ammunition and firearms.

Many of these organizations need it. Who’s going to argue against the FBI needing weapons (now whether or not they use them the right way is another thing altogether).

But what happens when one of those agencies has a central task of taking guns from the federal government and giving them to local and state police and fails to fulfill their duties?

Well you have a disaster on your hands.

The Hill writes:

The federal government received a bipartisan bashing Wednesday for losing track of hundreds of guns and grenade launchers that were donated to police departments.

The General Services Administration (GSA) has transferred more than 9,800 firearms to state and local police departments since 1999. But many of these weapons have later turned up for sale at gun stores or been stolen, according to a government watchdog.

Congress is outraged.

“This is not rocket science,” said Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.).

“I don’t understand how something so simple can’t be done,” he asked. “We can put a man on the moon and yet we can’t track firearms?”

An inspector’s general report issued in June 2015 found that 485 firearms have gone missing — only 24 have been recovered, while the rest remain on the lose.

During the first hearing on the matter, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle expressed concern.

Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) said it is “appalling” that the federal government would lose track of the firearms.

“This is my concern,” Carter said. “Here we have a federal agency that is only dedicated to registering and controlling firearms. Yet they don’t even know how many they have, they don’t know where they are, and they don’t know who has them.”

The GSA’s Surplus Firearm Donation Program provides weapons that are no longer being used by federal agencies to police departments.

The weapons include not only handguns but also assault rifles, uzis and grenade launchers, according to the report.

Democrats raised concerns about the use of grenade launchers by police departments.

“Can anyone tell me why the Cayce South Carolina Police Department, which polices a city of less than 13,000 people, needed two military-style grenade launchers in the first place?” asked Rep. Gerald Connolly (D-Va.).

“Do you sit around saying, ‘Well, I wonder who could use a grenade launcher?'” Connolly continued. “‘What could go wrong with that?’ “

Lawmakers also questioned why the GSA has only appointed one person to oversee the program.

“You have one person designated to manage this program of nearly 10,000 firearms?” asked Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.).

“What did you think was going to happen to these weapons?” asked Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.).

It’s amazing that the federal government would even think to tell Americans what they can and cannot do with guns and yet they can’t hang onto the ones they’ve been entrusted with.

This is yet another example of a moral failure on the government’s part. It seems like every few months we get another peak into the bumblings and ineptitudes of our government. The problem is how many of these happen with guns and how many innocent lives are lost because the government fails again to do their jobs correctly.

Are you at all surprised to see this kind of thing happen?

The Way Amtrak Loses Money, We Should Employ The Managers To Run ObamaCrapCare

Amtrak Loses More Than $800 Million on Food Services

The taxpayer-supported passenger railroad Amtrak has once again come under fire for losing millions of dollars on its food and beverage service.

At a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing in November, Amtrak Inspector General Ted Alves testified that the railroad last year lost $72 million providing meals on its 374 daily trains traveling over more than 31,400 miles of track.

The losses on food and beverage services "contribute directly to the need for federal subsidies to support operations," Alves said.

But critics of Amtrak, including Government Operations Subcommittee Chairman John Mica, a Florida Republican, have long been critical of what they claim are wasteful practices at Amtrak.

In one example cited by Alves, Amtrak's Auto Train from Virginia to Florida offers riders complimentary wine and cheese, and three long-distance routes provide free wine and champagne to sleeper-car passengers.

Amtrak employees traveling on free passes also receive free meals on the Auto Train.

"Somehow some of this has to be revised," Mica declared.

Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va., countered that most of the losses are on long-distance trains that Congress requires Amtrak to provide, while the cafe cars on the Northeast corridor trains between Boston and Washington break even or make a profit, Bloomberg reported.

Thomas Hall, Amtrak's customer service chief, told the committee that losses have been reduced by 30 percent since 2006.

But Mica said the reported improvements result from transferring some of increased ticket revenue to food service accounts.

"The Amtrak Inspector General has confirmed that Amtrak cooked the books to cover up food service losses," he added.

Alves noted that trains in Maine and Alaska use private contractors for their dining car services. The states pay from $7.75 an hour to $13 an hour with no benefits, while on-board Amtrak employees earn $41.19 including benefits.

The hearing echoed another committee hearing last year disclosing that Amtrak loses about $80 million a year selling food and beverages, and had lost $834 million since 2002 alone.

Alves testified before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in August 2012 that the previous year, Amtrak spent $206 million providing food services but collected only about $121 million, The New York Times reported.

Republican committee staff members showed charts during the hearing revealing that Amtrak charges about $2 for a soft drink while the cost to taxpayers is about $3.40 when labor is included. A $9.50 hamburger costs taxpayers $16.

Mica said the food and beverage service is "an outrageous cost to taxpayers."