In addition to a few other places, we have this alert at Watts Up With That?. In the comments section, someone going by exfedagent at August 14, 2012, 9:04 am has this to say:

GUYS! THIS IS A NON-STORY! I am a former federal agent. NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration has a SMALL (about 100) group of federal agents and officers who are GS-1811′s and GS-1801′s who enforce federal game laws on the high seas. They are ocean going federal game wardens enforcing the Lacy Act and the Magnison Conservation Act. It’s a great job. I personally know some of them and went to FLETC with one of them. They have been around since at least the mid-1980′s. Almost no one in the public domain and most of the people in federal law enforcement don’t know they exist BECAUSE THEY ARE SO SMALL. They carry .40 caliber handguns and have for many years. This is a routine ammo purchase. They are spending money they have left in their annual budget before the budget closes out at the end of September. Your reactions in your posts are understandable given that you didn’t have the facts!

Here is my response, awaiting moderation last I checked:

@exfedagent:
True, when I first heard this story, the numbers did not seem that great. Heck the number of rounds in one purchase looked like my monthly ammo usage. But perhaps you ought to rethink this is a bit. “It’s a great job.” does not give any of us plebes the warm fuzzies about this purchase. You know, this cop loved his job, too. There was a time when even FBI agents were not armed in the execution of their duties and had to ask a local officer to arrest someone when it needed to be done.

I suggest that we return to that model. There are at least 90 federal agencies that are armed. Including the Department of Education. And people wonder why they hear complaints about the US becoming a police state.

There is far too much power in our federal government that was never intended by the founding generation. Return the power to the states, and we won’t have a problem. This may be routine for you, but NWS apparently has gotten away with it in the past without the public noticing. The internet has changed that. Public officials haven’t gotten used to the attention and constantly cry “this is routine!” Well, the gig’s up. We’re onto you, now, and after a few more election cycles, expect to see the dismantling of the federal government institutions you hold so dear, institutions the founding generation would not countenance.

Vince Cefalu comes to mind. He’s brave in the sense that he has exposed corruption in the ATF and has been an outspoken critic of Operation Fast and Furious. But in one interview he call the ATF “the Agency I love” that performs an “important and necessary function.” Made me wanna puke. Similar to this. The Lacey act needs to go and the NWS should not be armed on the job. Ever.

Update: For the record, there was apparently a clerical error in which NOAA’s National Weather Service was listed as the purchaser instead of the Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement. Everything above still applies, 100%.