Yes, this is offensive

Witness the purchase of 174,000 hollowpoint rounds in .357 magnum by the Social Security administration.  Now, I know that, in our age of each agency having its own police instead of using the GSA, rounds will be purchased.  However, I have serious doubts that the 350 or so armed workers for Social Security are going to be needing 500 rounds of hollow point ammunition apiece annually. 

I can see about a tenth of this amount for final qualification with their service revolvers and occasional use, but for routine practice, ammunition companies manufacture a product called "full metal jacket" that is for cheaper and--given that the .357 mag is usually a snubnosed and fairly inaccurate pistol to begin with--will give every bit of accuracy these agents need.

The same goes for the half billion or so rounds of hollowpoint .40 S&W purchased by DHS.  Typically, FMJ rounds go for a quarter or less apiece, and hollowpoint rounds for at least twice that--often four times that.  We don't need our government agents to be using these all the time at the range.