9/24/2009

Bullets scarce

To the extent that this heavy buying is due to concerns about imminent gun control rules, I think that they are misplaced. That said, I think that there will be problems in the future.

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. . . . .

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3 Comments:

Blogger David said...

This is good, more shooting enthusiasts to support the 2nd Amendment.

As for the police shortages....
I wonder how many departments have a contract for ammo at prices from 2 years ago? If so, could the dealers be selling to customers who are paying the current prices and not selling ammo at a loss to the contract?

9/24/2009 8:06 PM  
Blogger Karl said...

What problem(s) in the future?

Our experience on this: new gun buyers, which there have been more of recently, who buy ammo in bulk with their gun purchase.

Then: repeat gun-buyer who would buy 1-200 rounds with a new gun. Now: new gun buyer who buys 500-1000 rounds with a new gun.

Add the war, buy-up at local police departments to accommodate the Homeland Security training needs, and existing gun owners who expect restrictions, and you have empty shelves. Correction: We have empty shelves.

9/24/2009 8:20 PM  
Blogger Mike Gallo said...

I think a large part of this problem is the fact that ammunition makers do not seem to have good lean manufacturing practices in place. They run on inventory-to-plan instead of a pull-type small batch system, and this means that once the system is overwhelmed, there's no coming back until inventory levels can be built back up.

They need to change the way they make ammo so they can make more money or lower our cost to purchase!

9/25/2009 1:18 PM  

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