I'd love to blame this entirely on DOGE and trump but honestly this was a perfect storm that built up over decades.

The screwworm was eradicated from the US a long time ago using sterile fly releases that pushed the population progressively southward until the Darién Gap became the permanent chokepoint. They maintained the barrier there with sterile fly releases and ground monitoring and it worked. It worked so well that the Mission, Texas facility closed in 1981 and the Mexico facility closed in 1999 because there was no longer a need for them.

That success is part of what caused the problem. Complacency set in, and capacity eroded. Then COVID wrecked the monitoring infrastructure. Ground teams couldn't operate, sterile fly releases got disrupted, and the barrier at the Gap was breached. The flies started moving north again and the program didn't have the capacity it once did to respond.

DOGE cuts to USDA APHIS in 2025 hit an already compromised program at the worst possible time reduced staffing and funding when they needed to be scaling up emergency sterile fly production and reestablishing the barrier.

So yes, the current administration made it worse. The vulnerability was already there before those cuts, and once COVID broke the barrier there was always a real chance they were going to make it back to the US regardless.

Fuck DOGE and trump though for real, I just cant get on this "its entirely their fault" train.

.223 or 223

2.23 is not a thing 5.56 is the metric measurement of .224 diameter bullets which are used in both 5.56x45mm and .223.

To go deeper, a civilian .223 Remington is almost identical to the military 5.56x45mm. Both use a bullet diameter of .224 and a weight between 40 grains and 77 grains. The differences without getting super technical are in SAAMI pressures. A .223 Remington cartridge produces less pressure than the military 5.56x45mm. You can shoot both out of a rifle marked 5.56x55mm or .223 Wylde but it is not recommended that you shoot 5.56x45mm in a rifle marked .223 Remington.

.223 Remington (SAAMI MAP): 55,000 psi (≈379.2 MPa) maximum average pressure (piezo).

5.56×45 mm NATO (NATO/EPVAT service pressure): ≈ 62,366 psi (≈ 430 MPa) service pressure (piezo).

Unless you plan to carry concealed or get a concealed carry license skip the pistol for your first gun.

If you want something for home defense that sits by the bed get a 20-gauge pump shotgun. I've never met anyone man woman or child that couldn't shoot one and #3 or #4 buckshot is hard to miss with within 20 or 30 yards. You can go to almost any sporting goods store and pick one up for about $250. I like the Maverick 88.

If you want something to hunt with or just have in case of "troubles" get yourself a decent bolt-action rifle with a 3x9 scope in a popular caliber such as 308 or 270. Rifles are easier to shoot and you can use them for hunting. Once you shoot the rifle a few times and are comfortable with it you can put it away for those "troubles."

If the US gets ripe enough you need to stack bodies you are going to want a rifle more than a pistol and if you have a shotgun or a rifle you can pick up a pistol, there will be plenty on those bodies you are stacking.

That's my extremely qualified opinion, but with that said opinions are like assholes, everyone has one.

Good luck out there, be safe.

I wasn't alive for the screw worms but I heard a lot of stories from my Grandmother who was a Texas cattle ranchers wife in the thick of it.

The objective is to overwhelm the population with sterile males. The female only mates once, so if you drop 50 sterile males to every 1 fertile male, the female will pick a sterile male.

They started dropping them in Florida in 1951 and were eradicated from the US by 1966. They had them pushed to the Darién Gap by the late 90s, and from 2000 until COVID, they were dropping 20 million sterile males a week, keeping them there.

Same old, same old. The DNC lost the most important election and ended democracy. Had a chance to change but couldn't see past the pile of cash in front of 'em.