Anyone have insights into the gun and ammo shortages?

[Deer Hunter]

Trooper, I do not work in the industry, but I needed a new pocket knife last night & I always wind up looking around the nearest small town for one every time I do. I can only tell you what I witnessed last night in North/Central Michigan. The situation is Wal-Mart had one box if bulk ammo which was selling while I was looking at knives. They did not have any 9 mm ammo (another customer was asking). There are plenty of centerfire traditional hunting rifles on store shelves here. There is plenty of popular centerfire hunting ammo on shelves.

At MC sports, a medium sized sports retailer here in MI, I noticed their stock on handguns was very slim (lots of empty space in the glass shelves). Still plenty of popular hunting rifles out there such as 30/30 levers, 30-06 bolties, shotguns, etc. shotgun shells & centerfire hunting cartridges out there.

I have no interest in buying any firearms or ammo at the moment, but last I checked, ammo was a little increased in price across the board.

The largest shortage here locally is in .22LR cartridges (practically none available on shelves & whenever it comes in, it's sold immediately. Based on what I witnessed last night, I expect that is also the case for popular defensive handgun cartridges.

This has happened before to some extent, but nowhere near the level of the current situation.

For what it's worth, I agree with your assessment that there are huge increases of people never having bought guns or ammo before that are arming up now. I also believe there are people that are buying to hoard like never before.

If you are in law enforcement, be careful! I suspect there are increasing numbers of gun owners without training, which is not a safe situation by any means.

I am getting the feeling that an increasing number of citizens are arming up due to a perception that they will need to defend themselves against a real increase in tyranny.

Isnt that exactly what most of us have done? Be honest.

[Deer Hunter]

A friend who works as an engineer for Savage Arms mentioned that hunting rifles and ammunition was not in short supply. Just military ammunition (.223, .308, 9mm, plus .40/.45). Part of it is people either hoarding or speculators, often with both groups being first time buyers.

As for LEOs, my concern is if the smaller departments will be able to find ammunition. And would DHS share?

But then what if DHS decides to cancel those orders? Would that then flood the market with cheap ammo? Shortages followed by a glut would ruin many smaller gun shops.

Im thinking DHS wont share ANYTHING and they will NOT cancel any order. Alot of its for training, this is truth. But most of it is being hoarded for other reasons.