Posted on 03/31/2009 5:17:17 AM PDT by kellynla
As I was walking through the ammunition aisle at my local Bass Pro Shops, I muttered to the man standing next to me how disappointingly empty the shelves were. “Not as bad as last week”, he said. I shouldn’t have been surprised. Back in February, Cabelas, a publicly-traded outdoor outfitter saw its stock go up 35% in one day when earnings blew away estimates because of very strong “sales of firearms and related accessories.”
If President Obama has stimulated anything in America, it is demand for guns and ammunition. According to Rich Wyatt, the voluble and intense owner of Gunsmoke -- a firearms training facility just outside Denver -- “If I had known it would be this good in the gun business, I might have voted for Obama.”
It’s not just a couple of stores seeing a run on guns and even more so on ammunition. From local gun shops to WalMart to sporting goods stores, the story is the same: When the store gets a shipment of ammo, particularly .45, 9mm, and .38 handgun ammunition, “people come in and they buy it all.”
The manager of a local gun shop where I’ve been a customer told me that business has doubled since the election. Whereas the typical first time buyer pre-election had generally been a 30- or 40-something male, first time gun buyers now include more younger people, older people, and women than in the past. “They’re buying semi-automatic pistols and shotguns for home defense, as well as ‘concealed weapons’. There’s also a strong interest in ‘black guns’”, military-style assault rifles, both from people who want to buy them “because they can” as well as others who believe they’ll be able to sell them at higher prices someday soon.
Where politics was rarely mentioned during a gun purchase a year ago, the store manager says at least 60% of his customers mention the Obama administration now.
At Rich Wyatt’s Gunsmoke, “We are getting ‘Prius-driving Obama people’ buying guns because they realize they picked the wrong pony…even though they never admit it.” Just like my local gun shop, Wyatt has “old ladies and young people and liberals” buying guns. He says that while there were spikes in gun buying during the Clinton administration, during the Rodney King riots, and even just before Y2K, he’s never seen anything remotely on this scale.
A customer I spoke with at Bass Pro Shops (the employees wouldn’t speak with me for an article) actually owns a gun shop, but he was buying ammunition there because his wholesaler had run out. His customers are hoarding ammunition and, to a lesser extent, guns. He described a recent spectacle at a gun show where one vendor had a relatively large supply of ammunition and customers were swarming around him buying 50 boxes at a time…and not at a bargain price.
At Dick’s Sporting Goods, they were almost out of .45 ammunition after having received a shipment just that morning. Not only are people buying as much ammunition as they can find and afford, they’re doing it during the work day rather than taking the chance that it will be gone by the weekend.
As if the message weren’t clear enough, a sign at a local WalMart said “Due to the increased demand from customers for ammunition, our suppliers are increasing production…” A salesman said that their ammunition supply is now infrequent and unpredictable: “We used to get shipments almost every day. Now we only know we’ll have it when we see it. I get at least a half-dozen calls a day asking for ammunition, especially for handguns, and when it arrives, the customers buy everything.”
Over at Gunsmoke, Rich Wyatt says “Now, it’s not what the ammo costs; it’s ‘do you have it?’”
Much of the demand for ammunition is due to an NRA advertising campaign during election season which described Barack Obama’s historical positions on gun issues, including having said that he would support a 500% federal tax on guns and ammunition. And while it is true that Obama has not made many anti-gun statements recently, gun rights expert David Kopel explains clearly that Barack Obama is easily the most anti-gun President in US history.
In his 2004 Senate campaign, Barack Obama said he would like to ban concealed carry permits. Now that Obama is President, Gunsmoke’s concealed carry courses are selling out class after class (50 people in each) in addition to their 3-day pistol classes, which are already sold out through June.
“People are petrified…afraid for their rights that Obama is going to attack. And while Obama says he doesn’t support banning guns, a 500% tax would effectively be a financial ban on both guns and ammunition. I think the left’s goal is that in 50 or 100 years, there are people who don’t even know that they could have bought guns or ammunition.”
Colorado is several months behind in processing concealed carry permits because of demand. Last month, it was reported that Florida “is buried under a backlog of 95,000 applications for concealed-weapons permits and it needs to hire a lot more people to handle the paperwork.” In Georgia, firearm permits were up 79% in 2008 over 2007. In Oklahoma, the number is around 90%. In Ohio, the number of concealed carry licenses issued in the 4th quarter of 2008 was 111% higher than the 4th quarter of 2007.
Wyatt’s concealed carry classes emphasize the basics of gun use, safety, and the law, but “It’s Politics 101 as well, trying to make sure people understand not only their rights regarding guns but also the Constitution and their rights and responsibilities as American citizens.” He tries to make sure people are conscious of the “boiling the frog” approach by government to infringing on our rights, and gun rights in particular, just slowly enough that the average person might not notice. Just be prepared, he warns, for the return of government saying “We’re not banning all guns…just these guns.” And that’s part of the reason that there’s so much demand for ‘these’ guns, which is to say just about every type of gun you can imagine.
Since the election, the shares of gunmaker Smith & Wesson have more than doubled, with competitor Ruger’s shares up nearly as much. Two weeks ago a large gun and ammunition manufacturer, Olin Corp. raised its earnings guidance, anticipating a record quarterly profit for its Winchester ammunition division. The American public is speaking, and they’re saying in no uncertain terms that they don’t believe President Obama’s claims to support gun rights since his history says something very different.
Rich Wyatt’s position is typically none too subtle: “Barack Obama is right about one thing. We are clinging to God and our guns, and I defy him to try to take either one from us.”
As for me, after a day of thinking about the Obama administration and guns, I bought my local WalMart’s last box of .38 caliber ammunition.
AmmoMan is out-of-stock for every common caliber.
“AmmoMan is out-of-stock for every common caliber.
I know. It’s systemic right now. That’s why I posted so many sources. I picked up some at Maine Military.
A local gun dealer mentioned that .380 is likely to remain in very short supply for a while. The same production lines are apparently used for 9mm - and that caliber has priority right now.
ABSOLUTELY.
Yep...my gun actually says .380/9mm on it. I haven't been able to find any online either, they all have a waiting list or won't do backorders. Guess I may have to take my CCW with my .45 Ruger if I can't find any .380 bullets. This is so disappointing though, I really wanted to use the .380 in honor of my Dad. I was the closest he had to a son...I am still a tomboy at 50 ; )
But living in the midwest I easily get 4-5 miles out of them.
L
NRA high power rifle matches are a better deal and more fun.
“I’ve got a couple of 5 watt hand held MB radios put back for just that eventuality.
But living in the midwest I easily get 4-5 miles out of them.”
I have an older set that we use fishing, hunting, hiking to keep in touch with each other on the beaches.
They work great in the 2-3 mile tests we have done. A younger relative and his boss use the newer and more expensive ones to contact workers and others up and down a 12-15 mile valley.
Thanks.
We will be having some serious discussions re options in the next few weeks. We are a little paranoid to do that on a land line phone, cell phone or the internet. We will be having some gatherings in April/May.
I can’t find any .38 spec. reloads for target practice.
Hoarding? Heavens no. I'm just adding to my stockpile. Or in the case of 5.56, establishing one. Never had a 5.56 before. Had 7.62x33mm, 7.62x39, 7.62x51, 11mm (.45 ACP) and .22 Long rifle, but no 5.56.
That depends on how many you take with you. You wanna live forever?
Might just as well let them take your stuff (but not your kids for "Americorps"), and go tell it on the mountain that the raids have begun.
Assuming that's not already public knowledge, which for most, it would be.
And if it is, it time to either go proactive, or head for the hills, which amounts to the same thing, if you think about it.
Since he grew up at least partly in Hawaii, The Resident might not take kindly to people hoarding Spam.
Hmm, wonder how much Spam they took on that trip to Europe? What is the White House Chef's Spam specialty?
We've got a few of those Motoroal FRS/GMRS radios that we use from time to time. I get 4 miles or so out of them under good conditions.
The MB radios I have are put back for a day when things may be a bit more 'black' if you know what I mean. The newer models are cheap, reliable, and the better ones are water resistant. That could come in real handy sometime.
We switch them to the 'international' freqs when we use them. We figure that puts us far enough below the radar screen, at least that's what I hope.
As always YMMV.
Best,
L
You'd think "someone" would take the hint, and stop talking about bans and super registration schemes and such. But apparently they aren't that bright.
And those checks do not represent all the new gun sales. In states with qualifying CHL/CCL systems, you can buy guns from a dealer without undergoing the background check.
I love to reload, and when my wife found out she was pregnant, I started to get some extra reloading supplies for when the baby was born in case money got tight.
Well, I am glad I did.
You sound like the gun grabbers. Anyone is liable to go off and kill if they could just get some ammo.
Anyone I'd be sharing ammo with would not be the type to go knock over a liquor store or a stop and rob. They might help prevent those things, but they'd not be doing them. However all my friends and gun owning coworkers all have more ammo than I do for any common calibers we own. :) All of them wore, or wear, the uniform at one time or another, or in one case, her husband, now deceased, did, but I have no common calibers with her anyway.
the really amazing thing is take the last 6 months there were over 6 and a half million checks, if all of them got a weapon they would be the 5th largest military in the world
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_active_troops
Iran 12,285,000
Vietnam 9,564,000
North Korea 9,079,00
People’s Republic of China 7,024,000
Russia 3,796,100
India 3,773,300
South Korea 3,717,000
United States 3,385,400
Republic of China (Taiwan) 1,965,000
Brazil 1,870,342
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