For use against terrorists or American citizens?

First bullets, now assault rifles bought by Feds

The federal government's grab for bulletsis now being matched with a buy of assault-style rifles that would be banned for civilians under President Obama's gun control law.

The Drug Enforcement Agency has just issued a solicitation for AR-15-styled rifles that include other elements that the president and his Democratic allies in the Senate would ban: 30-bullet magazines and a pistol grip.

The irony: The rifle, available at Rock River Arms, is virtually identical to the rifle thousands of Americans also own, or want to own, for target practice and varmint hunting. It shoots a .223 caliber bullet and the total package includes a $449 SureFire light, for a likely total price of $2,000 or more. DEA is seeking 25 gun packages, with each rifle getting six 30-bullet magazines.

It is the gun 'dissed as overkill by Vice President Biden, who suggested instead that homeowners under attack use a two-round shotgun to ward off attackers, either with a pop-pop into the air or shots through a door.

As the gun control debate has raged since the December Sandy Hook Elementary School slayings, the federal government has moved in to buy bullets and weapons. One report said that the Homeland Security Department has purchased 1.6 billion bullets.

Critics have charged that the purchases have both raised prices and made bullets scarce, and are now worried that the same thing will happen in the gun business, already under pressure to produce higher volumes as Americans have boosted purchases in advance of any new gun control legislation being approved.