Is your contention that anywhere close to 9.3 billion rounds were actually sold to consumers last year?
If so, who was selling it? Who was buying it? Seems like an awful lot of ammo to be sold in secret.
Sorry, but the answer has to be something different than...
"The reason there is no ammo for sale is because so many people are buying so much ammo."
That is kind of like Yogi Berra on why he quit going to a restaurant....
Nobody goes there anymore because its too crowded.
That is not a contention. It is fact, well known to all of us inside the ammunition industry. We don't know whether to laugh or cry when reading all the nonsense written about ammunition on forums like this. Some of these folks seem quite akin to the Aborigines that were trying to decide what a piano must look like after listening to one on a portable radio they found in the Outback.
"If so, who was selling it?" All the usual suspects.
"Who was buying it?" The usual suspects plus carloads of low information kooks.
"Seems like an awful lot of ammo to be sold in secret." Secret? What have you been drinking or smoking?
"Sorry, but the answer has to be (HAS TO BE? SAYS WHO BESIDES THE KOOKS?) something different than..."
"The reason there is no ammo for sale is because so many people are buying so much ammo." Whomever you quoted knew of what he communicated to you. Bless him."
"That is kind of like Yogi Berra on why he quit going to a restaurant....Nobody goes there anymore because its too crowded. Funny, but totally unrelated to the subject at hand.