Posted on 04/28/2009 7:27:55 AM PDT by newgeezer
Life is good at Mid America Arms in south St. Louis County.
Traffic inside the gun shop has doubled in recent months. Sales are up a solid 40 percent. And they can't keep the shelves stocked.
What started late last year — about the time President Barack Obama took office — as a nationwide surge in gun buying has evolved into something much larger. Good luck finding ammo for all those guns. Or the components and tools to make your own.
At stores such as Mid America, empty shelves and disappointed customers speak volumes about a supply-and-demand equation that's been knocked off its fulcrum by changes in the political landscape. The most popular calibers — 9 mm and .380, for example — are difficult, if not impossible, to find. And new shipments don't last long.
"It's a struggle," said Al Rothweiler, one of the owners. "Where someone used to buy two boxes of ammo, now they buy four, five or six boxes."
Rothweiler and others say it's pretty easy to explain ...
Most of the fingers point to fears that Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress eventually will get around to pushing for new laws restricting gun ownership and placing severe tax rates on ammunition sales. So people are buying guns and ammo before that happens.
"They realize this administration does pose a risk to their Second Amendment freedoms," said Alexa Fritts, spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association.
For its part, Obama's administration has been fairly quiet on the subject, citing the need to focus on the economy and other issues at this time.
However, the president's urban policy agenda, at whitehouse.gov, makes it clear that Obama would like to make permanent the so-called "assault weapons" ban that was signed by Bill Clinton in 1994 but allowed to expire in 2004.
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
Because of the election, I can’t find any small rifle primers to save my life.
We’re told that more guns = more crime. So why hasn’t the crime rate gone up as fast as the gun sales?
No kidding. I can’t find .25 ACP for my wife’s CCW if my life depends on it.
The St Louis Post-Disgrace could not wait until January for 0bama to take office.
Great journalism by a biased member of the media.
No problem getting 9MM, 30-06 or shotgun shells here in NJ.
However, the price SUCKS! I don’t buy unless I see a sale...which there still is believe it or not.
People have to calm the heck down...I know it’s all speculation but do you really need 25000 rounds of ammo? Stop buying for a while so these online rape artists (auctions) get stuck with a crap load of over priced ammo.
I’m surprised as hell that no unconventional entrepreneurs aren’t leaping into the breach.
Where are the wheeler-dealers buying up stockpiles of leftover 7.62x39mm, 7.62x51mm, 5.56mm, ancient 30’06, and 9mm from 3rd world stockpiles the world over?
If I was a turd world potentate, warlord or globe-trotting gangster, I’d be getting out of the killing business entirely and selling my ammo stockpiles to the yanquis.
Sigh! Too bad ol’ Viktor Bout (”The Merchant of Death”) is in the klink. This would be a tailor-made opportunity for someone like him.
People need to, seriously, ask themselves....”What is the government afraid of when it comes to our people owning guns?”
Why don’t factories ramp up production? Obama was elected in November. I suspect they are using this to ramp up the price or will do so.
I’ve heard ads for a gun store running an “Obama special”.
Of course the MSM will tend to think of people stocking up as being the lunatic fringe of society, but it does seem like a reaction to Obama.
Think about that statement being more true than any of us would want to believe.
Lee Precision has doubled the size of their factory and are running full steam.
Same here in N.E. Ohio. You can get it all, but you’ll pay for it.
I think the panic mongers are running the price up for us weekly shooters.
I would like 25000 rounds in the event we spiral down a depression road or the mexican govt fails and south texas has a flood of illegals. WE do not konw what is going to happen and for how long. And the last thing i want is to be stuck with 100 bullets and no way to get more if they are needed.
You'd better hurry, though
I’ve read several articles that say the ammo manufacturers are running their factories 24/7, but still can’t keep up with demand. I even heard that on the radio news a couple of weeks back.
do we have a gun ping list i can subscribe to
Small rifle, large rifle, small pistol, large pistol - they’re all gone.
The only thing I can find is “large pistol magnum” and shotshell.
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