Fox Already Has The Answers To Its Ammo Conspiracy Questions

KilmeadeFox News is reviving conspiratorial questions about federal ammunition purchases that the network previously debunked as the ravings of “those people who are watching us now from a cave in the Rockies where they are provisioned for a year or two.”

Fringe media figures have long speculated that large ammunition purchases by the Department of Homeland Security is evidence of a government plot to kill American  citizens.

On March 26, Fox & Friends' Brian Kilmeade highlighted a recent purchase of rounds by the Department of Homeland Security, which Kilmeade suggested raises questions from Congress about “why they need all those bullets. Can someone answer please? Hello?”

In fact, the government has provided a response to Congress, which, as Fox previously reported, “may not calmed have conspiracy theorists, but it has calmed some fears on the Hill.”

On the March 22 edition of Special Report, correspondent Douglas McElway reported that when asked by Congress about the reported purchases, DHS responded that ammunition purchases are lower than in previous years. While the law allows DHS to set purchase contracts of billions of rounds in order to reduce prices and save money --  setting off conspiracies about massive purchases -- the government hasn't actually purchased nearly that many rounds.

Later in that broadcast, contributor Charles Krauthammer mocked the ammo conspiracy theorists for “waiting for the Obama coup d'etat, which apparently is not going to come.” Krauthammer added, “I hate to disappoint the conspiracy theorists they have to come up with something new. And they will.”

Fox & Friends is such a frequent dumping ground for right-wing conspiracies that the hosts' antics at one point reportedly forced a network executive to issue the following directive to staff: "'For the record: seeing an item on a website does not mean it is right. Nor does it mean it is ready for air on FNC."