Gun Shops Face Massive Ammunition Shortage
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)- Gun enthusiasts are buying firearms with unparalleled zeal. As a result, ammunition is in short supply nationwide.
“We can’t get any inventory within a 100-mile radius,” said Mark Campbell, owner of Mid America Arms in St. Louis. He’s having a hard time keeping ammo in stock. “It started right around the election, as soon as President Obama mentioned gun control. But right after the school shooting in [Newtown] Connecticut, that’s when it went crazy.”
Even the big ammunition retailers are feeling the pinch. Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) has been rationing its ammo since January, to three boxes per customer per day. And when a gun retailer like Cabela’s (CAB) gets two or three shrink-wrapped pallets of 5.56 mm or .223 ammunition for AR-15 assault rifles, they’re “cleaned off like locusts, within a couple of hours,” according to Brian Rafn, a research director at Morgan Dempsey Capital Management in Milwaukee who follows ammo manufacturers.
Wild Thing’s comment.……………
My Dad used to tell me that one day there might be a time when the left and a Democrat president might go after our guns. He said that many years ago when I was a little girl. He hoped it would never happen but he said there was a chance it might happen.
Your dad was right as that day has arrived.
Ammo is now a precious commodity and hard to find. I’ve always said I would rather have one gun with 1000 rounds of ammo than 10 guns with 100 rounds of ammo each.
When you see ammo, get out the plastic and buy all you can.
Luckily I thought ahead of time and loaded up in early 2008 and again last July. Just checking approx. 15 online ammo sites I see all are out of almost every standard caliber except some shotgun birdshot. I’ve been told that ammo at gunshows is twice the price of six months ago. It may be a year or more before ammo availability and price settle down to a near normal situation. Reloading components will take longer. If obama interferes with an EO then it may never return to normal.