The bullet bubble
 

America armed, but guns not necessarily loaded

By MARY FOSTER, Associated Press Writer – Wed Sep 23, 2:51 pm ET

NEW ORLEANS – Bullet-makers are working around the clock, seven days a week, and still can't keep up with the nation's demand for ammunition.

Shooting ranges, gun dealers and bullet manufacturers say they have never seen such shortages. Bullets, especially for handguns, have been scarce for months because gun enthusiasts are stocking up on ammo, in part because they fear President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress will pass antigun legislation — even though nothing specific has been proposed and the president last month signed a law allowing people to carry loaded guns in national parks.

Gun sales spiked when it became clear Obama would be elected a year ago and purchases continued to rise in his first few months of office. The FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System reported that 6.1 million background checks for gun sales were issued from January to May, an increase of 25.6 percent from the same period the year before.

"That is going to cause an upswing in ammunition sales," said Larry Keane, senior vice president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade association representing about 5,000 members. "Without bullets a gun is just a paper weight."

The shortage for sportsmen is different than the scarcity of ammo for some police forces earlier this year, a dearth fueled by an increase in ammo use by the military in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We are working overtime and still can't keep up with the demand," said Al Russo, spokesman for North Carolina-based Remington Arms Company, which makes bullets for rifles, handguns and shotguns. "We've had to add a fourth shift and go 24-7. It's a phenomenon that I have not seen before in my 30 years in the business."

Americans usually buy about 7 billion rounds of ammunition a year, according to the National Rifle Association. In the past year, that figure has jumped to about 9 billion rounds, said NRA spokeswoman Vickie Cieplak.

Jason Gregory, who manages Gretna Gun Works just outside of New Orleans, has been building his personal supply of ammunition for months. His goal is to have at least 1,000 rounds for each of his 25 weapons.

"I call it the Obama effect," said Gregory, 37, of Terrytown, La. "It always happens when the Democrats get in office. It happened with Clinton and Obama is even stronger for gun control. Ammunition will be the first step, so I'm stocking up while I can."

So far, the new administration nor Congress has not been markedly antigun. Obama has said he respects Second Amendment rights, but favors "common sense" on gun laws. Still, worries about what could happen persist.

Demand has been so heavy at some Walmarts, a limit was imposed on the amount of ammo customers can buy. The cutoff varies according to caliber and store location, but sometimes as little as one box — or 50 bullets — is allowed.

At Barnwood Arms in Ripon, Calif., sales manager Dallas Jett said some of the shortages have leveled off, but 45-caliber rounds are still hard to find.

"We've been in business for 32 years and I've been here for 10 and we've never seen anything like it," Jett said. "Coming out of Christmas everything started to dry up and it was that way all through the spring and summer.

Nationwide, distributors are scrambling to fill orders from retailers.

"We used to be able to order 50 or 60 cases and get them in three or four days easy, it was never an issue," said Vic Grechniw of Florida Ammo Traders, a distributor in Tampa, Fla. "Now you are really lucky if you can get one case a month. It just isn't there because the demand is way up."

A case contains 500 or 1,000 bullets.

At Jefferson Gun Outlet and Range in Metairie just west of New Orleans, owner Mike Mayer is worried individuals are going to start buying by the case.

"If someone wants to shoot on the weekend you have to worry about having the ammunition for them. And I know some people aren't buying to use it at the range, they're taking it home and hoarding it."

With demand, prices have also risen.

"Used to be gold, but now lead is the most expensive metal," said Donald Richards, 37, who was stocking up at the Jefferson store. "And worth every penny."

I honestly don't know why I even let this kind of thing bother me anymore, but technically sloppy reporting just gets under my skin. Used to be the big wire services took pride in technical accuracy of their material. Oh well. Could someone help me find bullets for my shotgun?

People are idiots. I haven't bought a single bullet and only a couple boxes of 12 gauge shells since Obama got elected. I've got plenty, I hardly ever shoot anyone.

It is stupid, but it also stimulates the economy.

Is this even still true? Seems like this was a story 6 months ago, but I'm seeing emails from Ammoman on decent stock and Natchezss was having a sale on various .22 last week.

Just received an email about a gun show last weekend. They sent out messages to everyone to get there early if you were going to come due to the ammo shortage.

Friend of mine went there on Sunday and except for .22 and some unusual calibers every seller was sold out of ammo. People are still scared and rightly so in many cases. Watching the two stooges speak in the United Nations this morning was more than enough in many cases.

Prices have softened slightly and availability seems up a bit over early in the year, but it's still pretty darned expensive to go shooting now and it's also still pretty tough to find some calibers.

I've been stocking up steadily and surely. It's only a matter of time before the *******s try a gun grab or an ammo grab (this is already pending legislation here in CA). I don't trust the stability of the situation at all.

Ammunition makers, distributors, and sellers must be loving it.

Keep feeding the panic of the more paranoid sort of gun owner, make them buy more ammo, spending $1000s when money is hard to come by, buying ammo at inflated prices, accumulating more ammo than any sane person needs outside of a war zone.

And they call other people "sheepies" . . .

I guess bubbles are hard to see, for those who are caught up in them.

Did the panicked folks at the gun show turn on their computers and check out the big mail order ammo sites? You can buy 9mm, 45 ACP, 40 S&W, all the popular calibers. Not all brands are available yet, but a Remington cartridge will go bang just like a MagTech or Federal.

At the Cow Palace gun show last weekend, there was plenty of ammo. Granted, one vendor had most of it, but they had cases of pretty much everything available.

Sam thing at the big Scheels store in Reno last weekend. I chatted with one of the sales guys for a bit, he said the only thing they are having a hard time getting is primers.

I did see quite a few primers at the gun show though, but way overpriced.

That being said, I was in a Wal Mart Monday (North of Santa Rosa) that had been picked clean.

Quite true. The gun industry has been on mega overdrive since the day after election day.

This just blows my mind in so many ways.

It's just ridiculous, not the actual shortage - I understand how only so much ammo can be made per unit of time- but the reason for the shortage. It's fundamentally, well, retarded.

You're not all going to run out next week and participate in an armed, hot-fire revolution. This is not Columbia. This is not the Congo.



There, I PARFed it all up.

I gotta say, I find it funny that BHO has cause an explosion in gun industry profits.

The point is that it COULD happen here. It did once back in the late 1700s.

Throw in some serious economic instability and the tangible prospect of open looting, civil unrest, etc. and it suddenly makes sense to have a certain amount of firepower.

Everyone has their own definition of what "reasonable" is. For one person, it might be enough to have a nightstand .44 "just in case". For others, it's racks of AR-15s, AK-47s and .50 BMGs with a hundred thousand rounds of each - "just in case".

One thing's for damn sure - it's better to have someone call you crazy today just because you feel like being prepared than it is to find onesself in such a scenario wishing you'd thought differently a little earlier.

"Be Prepared".

And yes, I agree wholeheartedly that now is not the time to go out and buy like mad. Stuff is expensive. Buy a little here and a little there when and where you can.

If nothing else it makes the prospect of armed invasion/occupation of the United States entirely untenable, and it keeps a hell of a lot of Americans gainfully employed.

America needs Guns for Clunkers plan. Trade in clunker with less than 20 mpg, get .50 BMG and 2 cases ammo.

"Reasonable" isn't that wide a range. One of them is wrong.

Don't you just love living in America? :)

Lots of mistakes in that report.

The military and police don't compete for ammunition, as military-grade ammunition is made of separate machines to distinct specifications. I have seen quite a bit of military surplus ammo on the civilian market though--my local Farm & Fleet doesn't have any .223, but it has plenty of date-stamped 5.56.

As a person who hits the range (at least) once a month and maintains a relatively small stockpile, I've found that I have to buy a few boxes every few months no matter the price. Just like in RE, the stock market, and oil speculators, I think the people that are buying massive amounts to sit on for a future profit are those that will get burned. All of the sudden in the next 12 months the market will free up and prices will drop, and the people with big for-profit stockpiles will start panic-selling, which will further depress prices. I expect to see gun shows piled high with cheap ammo. I'll stock-up then.

The entire gun and ammo industry is living in fear of the inevitable hangover from all of this craziness. Ammunition factories will close, dealers will go out of business when they can't give the stuff away, and even firearms manufacturers will be hurt. It's coming - it's just a matter of when.

Once that happens, the ability to ramp up ever again for increased production will be all but gone. The tooling and equipment will have long since been dismantled; the personel will have moved on. America's ability to produce even "normal" quantities of civilian ammunition will be severely curtailed. Pelosi, Feinstein, Schumer, et. al. will have won.

Obama is smarter than he looks. He is laughing his ass off right now at the reaction of America's gun owners. It's exactly what he wanted.

There was a similar boom after Clinton was elected. The industry survived. This time, the bust will take place during a period of economic recovery and reviving credit markets, which will cushion the blow.

The alternative, if no Obama gun boom, was for the gun industry to suffer 20-30% sales declines like the rest of consumer durables, in an environment of no lending. I think that would have been worse.