Justice to count how many guns feds have

The Justice Department is updating a report on how many guns the federal government has. It will be the first time Justice has addressed the topic in six years, and it comes as conservative and libertarian complaints about an excessively gun-happy government have intensified. The issue was central to the recent controversy generated by a stand-off between right-wing rancher Cliven Bundy and agents from the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada.Bundy and his supporters argued an armed federal government threatened too much force in a dispute over grazing and public lands. But critics of Bundy worry that the decision by federal and local officials to back off in response to armed resistance by Bundy and his supporters could embolden self-styled militia groups. The Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) will undertake this year’s report. It will begin surveying federal agencies about how many of their agents carry guns and have the authority to make arrests in July, according to the author of the 2008 version Brian Reaves. It is not clear when the data will be finalized, though the final release could take until early 2015. Six years ago, the Justice Department found that 73 government agencies employed about 120,000 armed agents. The 2008 report found that four out of five armed federal agents belonged to branches of the Justice Department or the Department of Homeland Security, but the other 20 percent were spread out among dozens of agencies that are not as well known for their law enforcement activities. Not only is the FBI armed. So too are members of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Postal Service (USPS), Railroad Retirement Board, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), according to the report. Until recently, even the Library of Congress employed an armed unit. 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...more

Actually they don't count guns, just the number of employees who are authorized to carry guns and make arrests.  However, the report or something like it should include the number and type of weapons, the amount and types of ammo, the number and types of special vehicles, the number of drones, the number of attack dogs, etc.  I'm sure there are items I've not listed.  I once talked to a Border Patrol agent who said he liked to patrol with Forest Service LEOs because they had attack dogs.  Any way we need a report of their entire arsenal, not just the number of employees.