Federal Communications Commission watchdogs may one day carry guns thanks to a request to Congress by the agency’s inspector general that his office be allowed to hire armed criminal investigators.

David Hunt, the FCC IG, argued before the House Energy and Commerce Committee that the oversight of communications programs requires his team to investigate violations in potentially dangerous settings, thereby justifying the need to arm selected investigators.

Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation officials aid the FCC watchdog in criminal cases at present, but Hunt pointed to difficulties in securing support from the FBI in cases worth less than $1 million.

Hunt acknowledged the contribution of FBI agents while noting “cases where the lack of criminal investigative support has slowed and even derailed OIG investigations” because many of its cases fall below the $1 million mark.

Even so, Hunt said the FCC has “stymied” his efforts to “expand the capabilities” of the IG office. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler denied requests to hire criminal investigators, Hunt said in his testimony.

Hunt called Wheeler’s involvement in the issue a “direct contravention” of the laws establishing IG offices in the first place, which are written to grant the watchdog units independence from the agencies they oversee.

But the FCC IG is far from the only watchdog that has armed staff members as steadily growing federal departments and independent agencies and commissions have heaped greater responsibilities on the investigators.

The IGs working at agencies like the General Services Administration and the Department of Energy that aren't typically thought of as having law enforcement powers allow selected personnel to operate in much the same fashion as the police or the FBI. The 1978 Inspector General Act has granted such authority to 25 agencies, the Congressional Research Office said.

In all, 33 IG offices employed 3,500 investigators with arrest and firearm authority as of 2008, the most recent year for which data is available, according to the Department of Justice.

The different investigative functions of each agency watchdog dictate whether it requires firearms to conduct oversight.

For example, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service said the work of the agency’s IG officers yielded nearly 700 convictions last year, including the break-up of a conspiracy to distribute large quantities of marijuana through the mail.

A Department of Labor spokesman said IG investigators at the agency carry guns when probing fraud and labor racketeering.

The Small Business Administration was able to foil a 2013 conspiracy to net more than $100 million in SBA-backed loans thanks to the work of its criminal investigators, according to an agency spokesman.

Other agency IGs say they have no need to carry guns. For example, Kelly Tshibaka, the Federal Trade Commission’s acting inspector general, told the Washington Examiner her office’s oversight activities don’t warrant the use of firearms.