Disarming The Pencil Pushers? Administrative Agencies Begin To Cut Spending On Guns, Ammo

Authored by OpenTheBooks via Substack,

One would expect federal law enforcement agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Secret Service, Customs and Border Protection and Drug Enforcement Administration to have guns to carry out their daily responsibilities.

But what about the administrative agencies like the Internal Revenue Service, Social Security Administration and Small Business Administration?

These and dozens more pencil-pushing federal agencies have spent millions on guns, ammunition and other military-style equipment. Open the Books has documented those staggering figures spent on weapons arsenals over the years, most recently updating them in 2023.

Since then, combined spending at all non-DOD federal agencies did increase again. But hidden behind an understandable growth in spending at the Department of Homeland Security are signs of a drawdown at many non-military agencies.

Topline Figures

Open the Books looked at almost 70 federal offices that bought such equipment between FY 2024 and FY 2026, and found $1.4 billion spent.

Trump’s first fiscal year, FY 2026, saw $531 million in spending on guns, ammunition and other military-style equipment.

NOTE: While a fiscal year is Oct. 1 – Sept. 30, reported spending for FY 2026 is currently only available through August 2026. End of year use-it-or-lose-it spending in September, the final month of the fiscal year, makes up a large portion of some agencies’ spending. To compare dollars-to-dollars in the previous fiscal years of 2024 and 2025, we used a comparable time period of Oct. 1 through Aug. 31.

In the comparable time period in FY 2024, Biden’s final full year, agencies spent $228 million on guns, ammunition and other military-style equipment.

In the comparable time period in FY 2025, which includes the end of Biden’s term and beginning of Trump’s second term, agencies spent $278 million.

Homeland Security Drives Spending Increase

While the totals show increased spending under the Trump administration, much of it was at the Department of Homeland Security – home to increased enforcement at Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

At DHS, spending on guns and ammo increased almost 236% between FY25 and FY26 – from $60.8 million to $204.4 million.

Those figures exclude $25.1 million spent on iris biometric recognition technology sold by Bi2isolutions. The sole-source contract in May 2026 was for mobile iris scanners and identity-matching services for ICE. The contract was removed from both ICE and broader DHS spending changes as they are not what most would consider guns, ammo or military-style gear like body armor.

For ICE-specific spending, $57.2 million was spent on guns, ammo, explosives, armor, tactical equipment and more in FY26. That’s compared to $15 million and $14.4 million in spending the previous two fiscal years, a nearly fourfold increase.

But ICE wasn’t the only DHS agency with increased spending.

The U.S. Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Secret Service, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, Transportation Security Administration and Office of the Inspector General all saw sizeable increases – and understandably so, as agencies with law enforcement functions.

Here’s a breakdown by agency inside DHS:

The Coast Guard’s increase is mostly accounted for by two contracts with Teledyne, orders for their night-vision sensors to place on MH-65 and MH-60 helicopters, totaling $61.9M.

Signs of a Drawdown at Administrative Agencies

Some pencil-pushing, regulatory agencies – Departments of Labor and Energy, Environmental Protection Agency – saw sizeable increases in FY26.

The Department of Energy spent around $1.5 million each in FY24 and F25 on ammo, grenades, armor, night vision equipment, but in FY26 spent a massive $40 million on unmanned aircraft for the National Nuclear Security Administration, which safeguards national security through the military application of nuclear science.

Some large spending increases were driven by special programs, such as NASA’s Artemis Program to return humans to the Moon. NASA spent $9.4 million in FY24, and $4.2 million in FY25, before exploding to $60.5 million in FY26.

The vast majority of that – $59 million – was spent in summer 2026 on unmanned aircraft, guided missile and space vehicle explosive propulsion units, fuel and components for the Artemis Program.

The EPA spent $108,000 and $155,000 in FY24 and 25, but $1.9 million in FY26 – most of it on chemical detection instruments.

But despite increases as a few agencies, FY 2026 figures show evidence of drawdown at pencil-pushing agencies versus 2025.

General Services Administration, Department of State, Veterans Affairs, Social Security and Internal Revenue Service all show decreased spending since 2025.

Fourteen agencies saw year-over-year drops of more than 50%, including nine agencies where spending was zeroed out. Those nine included the Social Security Administration, the US Mint Federal Prison Industries (UNICOR), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Indian Health Service.

The Bureau of Reclamation, IRS, Veterans Affairs and Federal Aviation Administration all saw drops between 34% and 94%.

Below are the top ten decreases organized by raw dollar amount, totaling more than $41 million in savings. The Federal Acquisition Service, a part of the General Service Administration that makes bulk purchases for agencies to leverage volume, led the way with a $15.3 million decrease.

In a few of these instances where agencies decreased spending since 2025, spending was already going down from FY24 to FY25, but accelerated in 2026. At GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service spending grew between FY24 and FY25 before a big decrease in FY26. This office’s drop can be viewed as a bellwhether for lower spending across the agencies, given its role in making purchases at scale.

At the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, around $2 million was spent each year FY24-25 before dropping to $677,000 in FY26.

Disarming the Tax Man

A 2023 Open the Books report begged the question, “why does the IRS need guns?” in which the agency was found to have spent $35.2 million on guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment since 2006.

IRS special agents carry guns. The years 2020 and 2021 were peak years for the IRS in purchasing weaponry and gear – spending $10 million.

The $10 million in purchases included:

• $2.5 million on ballistic shields ($1.2 million) and ‘various other gear for criminal investigation agents” ($1.3 million)
• $1.3 million on duty tactical lighting ($467,000), tactical gear bags ($354,000), ballistic helmets ($267,000), and body armor vests ($243,000)
• Nearly $1 million on Smith & Wesson rifles ($474,000) and Beretta 1301 tactical shotguns ($463,000)
• Purchased 3,000 units of optics compatible tactical holsters for weapons with optical sights and weapons lighting systems.

Such spending at the tax-collecting agency has slowed.

IRS spending on guns and ammo between FY25 and FY26 dropped by 47% (roughly $1.1 million).

Spending on weapons had been $2 million and $2.4 million in FY24 and FY25, respectively, but was $1.3 million in FY26. Of the $5.7 million spent in the last three years, $2.7 million was spent on body armor, while $2.1 million was spent on ammunition.

Less than $1 million was spent on batons, helmets, flashlights, backpacks, nigh vision binoculars, gun safes – but no guns.

Further Reading

Why Does the IRS Need Guns?, Sen. Tom Coburn & Adam Andrzejewski, Wall Street Journal, June 2016

Why Are Federal Bureaucrats Buying Guns And Ammo? $158 Million Spent By Non-Military Agencies, Forbes.com, October 2017

The Militarization of the Executive Agencies, Open the Books Oversight Report, December 2020

WE’RE ARMING WHO? The Alarming Arsenals Behind the IRS, EPA, SSA and More, Sean Hannity Radio, April 2023