Back in 2010, the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Education purchased [1] 27 new Remington Brand Model 870 police 12-gauge shotguns. Why? Asks the Washington Post. The short answer is to replace their old guns. The longer answer is that the Office of Inspector General [2] is the law enforcement arm of the department and sometimes, officials say, it conducts high-risk investigations and makes arrests of people with criminal backgrounds. Catherine Grant, spokesperson for the Office of Inspector General, replied to a question about what the guns have been used for with an email that said: We conduct criminal investigations and operate with full statutory law enforcement authority. This includes making arrests and executing search warrants. Some of the cases we work involve subjects with significant criminal histories to include murder or violence against law enforcement officers, which are considered high-risk law enforcement activities. In such cases, these firearms are deployed. She did not go into further detail, but here you can find details [3] of cases that the office has handled in recent years…