Law Enforcement Targets, Inc., a 21 year designer and full service provider of training targets for thousands of law enforcement agencies throughout the country, including the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department, is now providing a line of “No More Hesitation” targets. What is so unusual about these targets? They are of a “pregnant woman threat,” “older man with shotgun,” “older man in home with shotgun,” “older woman with gun,” “young school aged girl,” “young mother on playground,” and “little boy with real gun.”

According to the the website these targets are “”designed to give officers the experience of dealing with deadly force shooting scenarios with subjects that are not the norm during training.” The targets are, “meant to help the transition for officers who are faced with these highly unusual targets for the first time.”

While I do recall live ranges using people that are non threatening in order to facilitate a reaction from trainees in which they might encounter innocent people while trying to locate criminals, this is a bit unsettling. Of course, yes there could be a mistake and as we are aware many people today are carrying concealed and you want to be ready to deal with law abiding citizens you might encounter that carry. I can see preparation for coming into a situation where there is a mass shooting and yet there might be civilians who are armed trying to stop the threat and police arrive on the scene. However, a little boy? or a young school aged girl? Additionally why label this line “No More Hesitation”? Is it to encourage shooting the person on the target? Furthermore, who is demanding these kinds of targets?

This doesn’t seem to be an unreasonable question to ask. Especially with DHS purchasing billions of rounds of ammunition and placing solicitations for 7,000 fully automatic rifles.

When you begin to consider the leaked US Army Military Police training manual, which outlines how military assets are to be used to quell riots domestically, confiscate firearms and even kill Americans on U.S. soil, along with characterizing Americans who are “suspicious of centralized federal authority,” and “reverent of individual liberty” as “extreme right-wing” terrorists by DHS-funded studies, it makes for a pretty surreal and frightening progression of thought.

There has not been confirmation that any government agency has purchased these yet. Calls to LETargets have not been returned.

Below, are some of the targets manufactured by Law Enforcement Targets:

UPDATE 7:45pm EST: In case you are attempting to get to the site, it’s getting hammered by traffic since the news broke. Some have said that calls have been returned and the page is pulled down. After about ten minutes of waiting, the page did load for me, so they had not pulled the page within the past hour.

UPDATE: LETargets, which can be contacted at 888-489-7830 to verify the authenticity of these products. The salesperson I spoke with said the page has been pulled, but they are continuing to sell these targets. When asked what their purpose was, she nervously didn’t want to answer and pointed me to a spokesperson, Laren Helms, who has yet to return my call. Also, they seem unwilling to indicate whether federal agencies like DHS or the DOJ have purchased these particular targets. This may be due to privacy reasons, though it is tax payer money and this is not a national security issue.

For those charging Freedom Outpost with conspiracy theories, that is far from the case. DHS has yet to step forward to indicate why they need the amount of ammunition they have solicited for over the past year. They have not come forward to state why they need 7,000 fully automatic rifles that they refer to as “personal defense weapons,” while the administration they serve under calls semi-automatic rifles “assault weapons.” These are merely facts. Yes, one has to wonder about targets like these coming from a supplier to DHS and other law enforcement agencies and therefore there are most definitely questions. This is merely the information should others desire to question further.

Far from conspiracy, Freedom Outpost has demonstrated it’s willingness to actually deal with the Sandy Hook shooting in a fashion that demonstrates that we ask questions and seek answers and have provided those.

UPDATE 2/20/2013 1:15pm: Just talked with company spokesman Laren Helms. Mr. Helms confirmed several things:

1) These are sold in low volume

2) The company does supply federal agencies like DHS and the DOJ with products

3) The could not confirm or deny that federal agencies had purchased these targets

4) That these items are used in “advanced law enforcement” training to “put law enforcement officers in unique situations that they may not have thought about or considered.”

According to Helms, the use of the targets is determined by whoever is instructing the law enforcement officers being trained. They will apparently set up scenarios to determine whether the individuals in the targets are a threat or not.