Ok, I tried twice with Stratergist and he/she would not answer so now I will ask you. Where is the ammo? Forget whether or not a billion plus rounds may or may not have been bought by DHS. I’m sure you would conclude that it is due to panic buying(?) The fact that people believe there to be a problem and act on that belief makes it a “real” issue. We are now into the 4th month of the largest ammo shortage I have seen in over 40 years. I am baffled by people who aren’t at somewhat concerned about this. Should we feel better about the lack of ammo because you have assured us it is not due to DHS purchases?
In hoarder's caches. Paranoid civilians are buying it as fast as it hits the retail shelves. In general, retailers have not been price gouging, but most have placed limits on purchases to spread the ammo around more evenly. Distributors have been gouging with both guns and ammunition. I hope that comes back to burn them. Gun show merchants have been have been charging outrageous prices for ammunition. As much as it irritates me, that is the way free enterprise, supply and demand works.
"I’m sure you would conclude that it is due to panic buying(?)" Absolutely! We have met the enemy. It is us. Reason has been left in the dust. Also, a few buyers hope to profit from their unnecessary purchases, but that seems unlikely unless they find buyers very soon.
"The fact that people believe there to be a problem and act on that belief makes it a “real” issue."
Yes it does. The only known cures are when folks run out of money, feel that they have acquired enough guns and ammo or understand the true situation. Industry cannot possible meet the current demand and are wisely resisting the temptation to increase production capacity for a short term event. Historically, there has been an over-capacity in the ammunition industry.
"We are now into the 4th month of the largest ammo shortage I have seen in over 40 years. I am baffled by people who aren’t at somewhat concerned about this."
Baffled and concerned by the cause of the shortages or their inability to hoard enough?
"Should we feel better about the lack of ammo because you have assured us it is not due to DHS purchases?"
Not necessarily, but you should feel better knowing the truth. The shortage of guns is already easing now that it is clear the new restrictions on AR-15's and M4's will not happen. Within a couple of months the other political issues related to guns, magazines and ammo will have been resolved, one way or another. Panic buying of ammo should then slow down greatly, but it could take many months to re-fill the distribution pipeline and establish a new normal.
No one in their right mind trusts this administration as far as they can spit into a hurricane.
The belief that the administration will engage in hostilities with the populace has been bolstered by comments made in high places, and people are already on edge, especially when policy seems quite contrary to the well being of the nation and its people.
Anticipated problems might come in the form of financial collapse, loss of reserve currency status and hyperinflation, or other factors initiating what had been jokingly referred to as the 'zombie apocalypse'.
There may be those uninformed who believe that such would involve a brief period of hostilities and a return to relative normalcy without some of the liberal nonsense and expense we endure today, but I am not so optimistic should civil order break down.
If people will look at the effects of civil war on Sarajevo, which had hosted the Olympics, they can apply that to their own back yard in a "what if?". No hostilities should be undertaken lightly, and the effects of such will resonate for generations.
That aside, it is easy to expect the worst from this administration, and anything which appears to be a fulfillment of those expectations will be taken as such, whether it is SOP or something different.
We all need to be rational if we expect America to survive.
So while you're out scrounging up twenty thousand rounds for that 1911, keep your mind on who we are going to run against incumbents from both parties in order to get this country back on the right track.
Plan for the worst, work for the best, and the clock is ticking on the latter.