Ammo Hoarding: I Don’t Get It
March 30th, 2009 by Syd
As gun shoppers are discovering, it’s becoming easier to buy a gun than ammunition
As a growing number of gun shoppers are discovering these days, it’s becoming easier to buy a gun than it is to purchase the ammunition for it. Shortages of popular handgun calibers in particular have dealers and customers fuming, and ammo makers have shifted their production lines into overdrive to keep up with the demand. How long will the "bullet bubble" last? That depends in large part on politics in Washington and in statehouses across the land, and the messages that various legislative efforts convey.
Concerns over what the election of Barack Obama portends for gun owners is the main cause for the inflated demand for ammunition. In fact, since last November’s election ammunition has been flying off store shelves faster than you can say "microstamping," with sales increases topping 100 percent in many areas. Gun sales ramped up by 42 percent last November, but have cooled off slightly since. From Election Day to now, the monthly sales average for firearms has been about 29 percent higher than normal. February sales tailed off a bit, to slightly more than 23 percent over average, according to sales figures compiled by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF)…
…"A lot of my guys think that the government is going to tax ammo to the point that it gets ungodly expensive," says Rausher. "So they’re buying ammo and putting it away — 9mm, .380, .38 Special, .40 S&W, .45 — all the popular stuff. I think they’re probably on the right track. Something is coming; something is going to happen. Whether it’s microstamping or non-lead bullets, ammo is going up in cost." Source: ESPN
Of course, my family jokes about my stash of ammo. I have cartridges for guns I don’t even own, so I’m no one to talk, but I will anyway. What good does it do to stockpile a gazillion rounds of ammo for guns that are outlawed? What am I going to do with my 3000 rounds of 7.62×39mm when the guns that fire them suddenly become contraband?
Buy ammo and components before the prices go up? Come on; this is just back door gun control. I can guarantee you that you will run out of money before the Congress runs out of new taxes. And also, if they can push through a punitive ammo tax, they won’t stop there. They will feel emboldened to ban classes of ammunition and the guns that fire them.
Rather than buying a boxcar of ammo that may instantly become worthless tomorrow, wouldn’t it be better to get involved with the struggle for gun rights, and send some money and letters to your favorite gun rights organizations and favorite legislators. The ammo that we really need right now is political muscle.
Ah, but what about the revolution? Many of those that are stocking up are doing it not only out of fear that the stuff will be taxed/banned/whatever out of existance. They are also preparing for the day when (law?) enforcement comes to illegally attempt to wrest their arms away from them. Those that are stocking up are NOT sheeple, willing to silently wait for the government’s next move.
My fear is that the administration will do nothing that the pro-gun crowd says they are going to do, and gun owners like myself will be saddled with 100% price increases in gun prices and a ridiculous scarcity of ammo for 8 years.
Its a matter of doing all of the above. But we must be prepared for last resort, and that includes hording ammo.
That being said, I only buy rounds for guns I have. However If I had a soon to be banned gun. I’d buy as many rounds as I deam necessary to protect my freedom and right to posses such a weapon.
“Come and take it”
I think that special taxes on ammo will soon be attempted as a
“back-door” to gun control. (Guns aren’t any good without the stuff that goes Bang!)
I’m buying power, brass, primers and bullets. To me, it’s a financial decision. I’ve also bought more dies, shell plates and parts for my presses.
I think it will be a long dry spell until we can boot the bastards out—one way or another.
It’s not something that I like to think about, but I think it’s coming.
One less evil thing is that the anti’s will almost definitely not make anyone give up a gun they already own. They pretty much always grandfather existing ones in.
So, you will still have a gun to shoot your ammo in. Your kids may never get one, you may never get another one, etc, but you should still have yours.
However, the scariest is all the microstamping and such being proposed that would outlaw existing ammunition. One would expect that they would grandfather in what people already own, I mean they even did it with armor piercing and teflon coated ammunition and such, but all these new bills for microstamping place a date by which the only ammunition that’s legal will be the stuff with the magic numbers on it.
Stock up now and you may find yourself sitting on a large pile of contraband. Unless, of course, people decide that they would like to turn their ammo in using creative methods and the gov decides to let us keep what we have after all.
You know, I honestly hadn’t thought of it that way before. Makes me kind of reconsider the half cases of 9mm and .223 I bought a few days ago . . .
Thanks for framing it that way, definitely something to think about.
I understand that a lot of the buying of stockpiles is by people who never owned guns before, including a lot of Obama-voting Democrats who evidently have some romantic notion of being “resistance fighters when Obama’s successor comes along and suspends the constitution and rounds everybody up for the camps.
No…
I’ll give my time to defending my right. But there’s little point if I am unable to defend myself.
I guess the caveat is that I haven’t had the years of being a gunnie to stock up. I just became a gun owner 2 yrs ago. Why didn’t I become one sooner? I lived in a liberal New England state…nuff said.
Move to PA and became not only a supporter of the 2nd Amendment but a contributor as well. But with talk of bans on everything from semi-auto rifles to handguns. Well, it doesn’t leave me much time to catch up.
First of all, please understand that I am not attacking anyone on this site or anywhere else, for that matter. However, I need to get something off my chest, and I hope you will be patient with me and understand where this is coming from. I love my right to keep and bear arms, and I worry as most of you do that this right can be taken away. So here goes:
The wave of near hysteria regarding Obama, gun control, availability of ammo, etc is not showing gun owners in the best light. How many of the thousands of people who have recently purchased their first gun and whine about not finding ammo have joined the NRA (the only organization that speaks out for our rights as gun owners)? How much can they have learned in one 8-hour Concealed Weapons class? Are they seeking additional training? Have they taken a first aid course? How about emergency preparedness? Lifesaving? Are they as eager to help save a life as they are to be prepared to take a life? How much community service are they doing? What kind of physical conditioning do they engage in? Have they trained in unarmed self defense?
Are they bound by an oath or a code of ethics, as are the traditional martial artist, the soldier or the policeman? Do they realize the power they wield over others, and the potential for fear that it brings? Are they aware of how their own attitudes can feed the anti-gun debate?
The right to keep and bear arms is not just a right, but a privilege. To keep this privilege we ought to examine ourselves closely, and make sure that we are not just worried about losing our rights, but rather show ourselves to be that which can be honored in society: the hero, the one who is willing to lay down their life to save another. The hero’s place in society is honored. Americans value and look up to protectors and 1st responders to emergency.
We cannot allow the image of the shadowy gun obsessed nut, waiting for a chance to pull out a gun and start blasting away, to be that which represents the vast majority of gun owners.
Most of all, we need to just calm down, take a deep breath, and face the situation with a little more nobility and grace.
John,
Not a privilege. A right. A right that exists apart from the words in the Constitution. The Bill of Rights was written to recognize some of the individual rights and establish some limits on the power of the government. It does not create the rights, it just lists them. Taking those rights out of the document would not change those rights, it would only change the government policy.
A right cannot be taken, limited, or infringed. Like free speech, and the right to be secure in your person, any government that limits my rights loses it’s legitimacy and it’s moral authority to govern by it’s own actions.
I am not concerned with the actions of others, whatever they claim to represent. The “shadowy obsessed gun nut” is just a straw man that those who want to attack gun owners set up. Even the NRA and other gun ownership organizations don’t speak for me.
In answer to some of your questions. I am a veteran. I am a certified lifeguard. I am a basic level EMT, although that is going to run out soon and I probably will not recertify. I study Aikido, a Japanese self defense art that empathizes harmony and respect for the humanity of your attacker. I walk, I hike, I ride a bike. I try to maintain a healthy weight.
I shoot in rifle competitions like Garand Matches supported by the CMP. I shoot pistol in USPSA matches. I practice, and sometimes I go to the range for fun. I am an NRA range safety officer. I am active in a local club, and work to introduce new people to this sport.
I was not caught by this “wave of near hysteria” you mention because I already had the firearms I wanted to own, and a fair amount of ammunition. I don’t like it because it has made finding things I want to purchase, like reloading supplies, more expensive and difficult.
But all of that aside. I am not trying to act a certain way or try to be something out of some vague fear of how others perceive me. I am not interested in the anti-gun debate. I have a code of ethics, and a moral/religious belief system. I live my life with as much nobility and grace as I can. What others choose to do, and how they live, is their path.
My path has led me here. And here I will stand.
I’VE LISTENED TO THE RATIONAL SHOOTERS; AND I’VE LISTENED TO THE LOONEY GUN-TOTING-KNUCKLE-WALKERS. THE IRRATIONALS OUTNUMBER THE SANE..THAT IS THE ONLY REVOLUTION I FORESEE! TO HURL POLITICAL INSULTS BACK AND FORTH(’CAUSE YER PAPPY AIN’T LEARNED YA BETTER!) IS A TIRED ASS AT THE BOTTOM OF A VERY DEEP CANYON! WHY,AS AN EDUCATED AND WEALTHY INVESTOR, HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ALL THESE INNER-CITY SHOOTINGS, AND GUN LOONIES ( WHO DON’T KNOW THAT THEIR KALASHNIKOV CHEAP-ASS KNOCK OFFS DON’T CHAMBER AMMO SMOOTHLY BECAUSE THE GUN MAKERS MAKE A SHORT-STRIKE LIGHT TAP FIRING PIN, AND THE ORIGINAL RUSSIAN GRADE WHACKS THE PRIMER LIKE A MAN, NOT A BALLERINA!)IT AIN’T THE WOLF AMMO..AND YOU MISGUIDED CONSERVATIVES DON’T REALIZE THAT OBAMA IS NOT THE PROBLEM; PELOSI IS NOT THE PROBLEM; HILLARY IS NOT THE PROBLEM. LIKE THE GODLESS RUSSIANS( WHO MAKE YOUR HOARDED WOLF AMMO AT TULA FACTORY!), OUR GREAT ECONOMY HAS TANKED!HELL, I’LL SELL YA A WOLF BATTLEPAC 1000RDS AT COST, EVEN MY AK-47 IF YA GOT 7000 FOR A VIRGIN “ISH”; BUT UNDERSTAND, THERE AIN’T NO REVOLUTION IN THE BEANFIELDS! ENJOY COLLECTING ANF SHOOTING FOR THE LOVE OF FINE CRAFTSMANSHIP AND SKILLS! DON’T LET LIFE PASS YOU BY WHILE YOUR PILES OF AMMO SITS AGING IN A RENTAL WAREHOUSE WAITING ON THE DAY YOU WILL MAKE 3.00 DOLLARS PROFIT PER BULLET…MORE TO LIFE, MY LITTLE AMIGOS!