Makes the previous posting here even more ironic, no? Remember this story?

Troops training for and fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are firing more than 1 billion bullets a year, contributing to ammunition shortages hitting police departments nationwide and preventing some officers from training with the weapons they carry on patrol.

An Associated Press review of dozens of police and sheriff’s departments found that many are struggling with delays of as long as a year for both handgun and rifle ammunition.

The Associated Press says it interviewed law enforcement, and that backs its claim. Bulletproof (mind the pun) correct?

Well, Bob Owens says it doesn’t pass the sniff test:

ATK’s Ammunition Systems Group is the largest ammunition manufacturing body in the world. ATK runs the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant under contract, where it has the capacity to manufacture 1.5 billion rounds of ammunition a year, or put another way, a half billion rounds per year more than is being used by our military in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It is also a major supplier of law enforcement ammunition under Federal Premium, Speer Gold Dot, Lawman, and CCI Blazer brands. The law enforcement ammunition is made in plants in Idaho and Minnesota that are completely separate for their military operations at Lake City. These production lines do not, as the AP falsely states, use the same equipment used to manufacture military ammunition.

Those who stayed with the entire Associated Press article might note that ATK spokesman Bryce Hallowell did not buy the AP’s conclusion that the war in Iraq was having a direct effect on police ammunition supplies….

I contacted Brian Grace of ATK Corporate Communications for further information, and he also doubted the Associated Press claim that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were responsible for a police ammunition shortage.

Since 9/11 we’ve seen a huge jump in demand from law enforcement. In the last fiscal year alone we saw demand from law enforcement jump 40%. By running our civil plants 24/7, hiring hundreds of new employees and streamlining our manufacturing processes we were able to increase our deliveries to law enforcement by 30% in that same period. In addition, we’ve just announced we’ll be investing another $5 million in new production lines at our civil ammunition facilities.

So, Bob decided to further question Mr. Grace. Apparently, according to Grace, it’s the massive increase by law enforcement, which is causing the shortage – not the war effort. Apparently, the ammunition made by the company for the war and for law enforcement, are made at two different facilities.

I’ll be interested to see what happens with this story, over the next few days.