Ammo In High Demand

GOP USA – by Times Record (Fort Smith, AR)

Gun ammunition is in higher demand now than ever.

While the once-scarce .223 and 5.56 rounds have come back into readily available stock, the humble little .22 caliber bullet has become the most sought-after projectile.

The Walmart Supercenter locations in Fort Smith, as well as Academy Sports, Dicks Sporting Goods and the Tackle Box, all report high demand for .22 LR “longs” to the point they are bought up as soon as shipments arrive.  

“They are used more for target practice and they are inexpensive,” said Bob Jackson at The Tackle Box on Zero Street. “But the availability just isn’t there.”

A 500-round bucket of .22 LRs costs $25 at Academy Sports, and a 1,400-round bucket is $65, but they are bought as soon as the store opens. Many of those interviewed said the .22 bullets were being sold at four times retail prices at gun shows.

“The last gun show I went to three or four weeks ago there were people selling ammunition at higher prices,” said Clifford Cope of Knesek Guns Inc. in Van Buren. “I think it’s hoarding that is driving up prices.”

An Academy Sports store employee said the .22 LRs are bought up as soon as the store opens at 8 a.m. The shelves where .22 longs are kept at both Walmart stores in Fort Smith are bare. An employee at the Zero Street Walmart Supercenter said the stock of .22 longs are bought out daily, and a customer would need to be at the store by 6 a.m. to purchase the shells.

Hunting season in consideration, the common rifle calibers like the .30-.30, and .243 are also rare in both stores and online, where “item not currently available for order” is common.

The number of gun owners in America surpassed 100 million a few years ago and National Rifle Association membership now exceeds 5 million.

With mass shootings creating a fear of a government crackdown on gun ownership, gun sales are up. The National Instant Criminal Background Check System statistics compiled by the FBI show a steady increase in background checks, from between 8.5 million and 9 million a year in the early 2000s, to 10 million in 2006 and a steady rise to 16.4 million in 2011, 19.6 million in 2012. As of Oct. 31 there have been more than 17 million background checks in 2013.

While most of the demand for ammunition logically is driven by higher gun ownership, rumors of government conspiracy over the past year have created a higher interest in both guns and ammunition.

Earlier this year, rumors began circulating that the Department of Homeland Security ordered some 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition. It was actually 750 million rounds over five years, but still enough to catch the eyes of Congress. In late April, Oklahoma’s U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe and U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas introduced the Ammunition Management for More Obtainability (AMMO) Act of 2013.

The DHS called it a routine acquisition and a “strategic sourcing contract” for leveraging purchase power.

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(c)2013 Times Record (Fort Smith, Ark.)

http://www.gopusa.com/news/2013/12/03/ammo-in-high-demand/?subscriber=1