An ammo shortage is being witnessed nationwide as Americans react to civil unrest by buying up firearms and the ammunition needed to use them for self-defense.
Gun store shelves in Arizona, long covered with box upon box of ammunition for sale, now host but a smattering of ammunition, and at a much higher price because of the product’s scarcity.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports the same shortage is evident throughout Minnesota.
Oakdale gun store owner David Bean said, “Manufacturers can’t keep up with the demand anymore. The industry’s never been hit this hard before.”
And Stock & Barrel Gun Club executive vice president Kevin Vick observed, “[People] have seen firsthand that law enforcement is not always going to be there to protect them.”
West Texans are witnessing the same run on ammunition. Davo Rittenberry, owner of Amarillo’s Riverfields gun store, talked to Breitbart News about the way ammunition comes in and is gone almost immediately. Customers are waiting on it to hit the shelves.
Remember, the shortage in ammunition comes as background checks for gun sales were at record-setting levels for eight straight months. In other words, a record for monthly background checks was set every month January 2020 through August 2020.
Guns need ammunition, thus the surge in sales nationwide has led to a run on ammunition that goes beyond Arizona and Minnesota; a run that has left depleted ammunition supplies nationwide.
National Shooting Sports Foundation’s (NSSF) public affairs director Mark Olivia told Breitbart News:
The surge in gun sales is having a corresponding effect on ammunition. NSSF estimates there are nearly 5 million first-time gun buyers in 2020. That also means there are 5 million new ammunition buyers who are learning to use their firearms. There are 5 million new people looking for ranges for safe, recreational shooting. There are 5 million new gun owners filling up classes at their local ranges for instruction.
Manufacturers are working to meet this demand, but it is undeniable that concern for personal safety is having an effect on the availability of ammunition at local retailers. Distributors are doing “boomerang” shipments, where products are in the receiving door and out the shipping door the same say, never hitting the stock shelves.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange