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How Long Will the Ammunition Shortage Last?
If you’re like me, you’re extremely frustrated about the difficulty in finding ammunition for your guns. The shortage is becoming a long-term problem, and those of us who like to keep our skills honed are finding it difficult to practice. The situation is dire and is
predicted to last through 2021:
One Scottsdale, Arizona, based ammunition manufacturer, Ammo Incorporated, is currently facing an $80.1 million backlog in orders despite working around the clock.
‘We’re working right now seven days a week, 24 hours a day in all the manufacturing plants,’ said the company’s CEO, Fred Wagenhals. Ammo Incorporated has plants in Payson, Arizona, and Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
‘We just bought $2.8 million dollars-worth of machinery and equipment last week to increase our production and increase our volume,’ Wagenhals said.
Gun sales have also shot up:
The National Shooting Sports Foundation reports that gun sales are up 95 percent in the first half of 2020 compared to the same time frame in 2019. Ammunition sales have skyrocketed even more, up an astounding 139 percent over 2019.
Since these shortages have been going on for a while, what are the reasons? Some manufacturers are reluctant to build more plants because they are costly and can’t be completed quickly. They also wonder how long this surge in sales will continue, and if they can count on the demand to continue to grow. On the other hand, customers are likely becoming increasingly impatient with the lack of opportunity to practice and build their supplies.
The government and its positions are also a threat to gun owners. The Biden-Harris team has made it clear that they intend to restrict gun ownership even further than the laws already on the books. Prior to the election, the NRA called them the “most anti-gun presidential ticket in history.” The Democrats are still discussing a national registry, stricter purchasing requirements, and even a program for citizens to turn in their guns.
And there is the question about whether we can count on law enforcement to protect us. Will officers continue to be attacked by government agencies for simply doing their job, causing them to hesitate in potential shooting situations? Will civil unrest break out again as it did last summer? Will citizens be endangered not only by criminals but by naïve and novice gun owners—assuming they can find ammo?
Steps must be taken soon for us to be able to protect ourselves. Do you see resolutions for the lack of resources and the government’s determination to limit our rights?
Published in Guns
Rightly, in the view of many unnamed sources, both gun and ammo should be provided free to all.
They should be as free or more free than abortions which don’t even have an amendment.
That’s an interesting contrast. Conservatives tend to be pro-ammo and yet anti-abortion.
We tend to be against murder.
That does seem to be the unifying theme.
Agree, but I don’t want to pluck a chicken.
No amendment, but they do have an emanation of a penumbra!
There was a previous ammo shortage during Obama’s term when gun sales spiked, then it caught up and went back to normal. During the end of Obama’s administration and the beginning of Trump’s ammo was no problem to get. What you heard was probably scare tactics from the right or something that had come and gone. My friends and I buy a lot of ammo so this is based on actual experience not rumor.
I get the feeling while trying to buy .45 Colt or .44 special ammo that EVERYONE is making 9mm now that can. lol Probably not the case but the specialty calibers are hard to find for sure.
5.7 X 28mm?
I have two crazy ones to find: 32-40 Win and .45 Schofield.
Good luck on that!