In typical fashion, gun and ammunition sales skyrocketed post-Sandy Hook, just like they did after Tuscon, Aurora and Obama’s reelection.
But this time time is different. According to RT America, this has led to a nationwide bullet shortage so severe that police are putting off training exercises to avoid running out of ammunition:
Police in Atlanta, Georgia…put orders for more bullets on back-order, while officers are being deprived of the training that makes them capable of handling weapons.
“When you can’t get ammunition, it is very concerning,” Sandy Springs Police Chief Terry Sult tells WSBTV. “It affects our ability to be prepared. It affects the potential safety of the officers, because they’re not as proficient as they should be.”
The Sandy Springs Police Department is facing a shortage of tens of thousands of bullets and is scrambling to restock. The neighboring counties are facing an equally dire situation, with both practice ammunition and duty ammunition in short supply. Douglas County Chief Deputy Stan Copeland predicts it could be 6-8 months before the back-orders come in.
“We’re going to get very concerned at the six-month level if that’s all we have in stock, because then we have to start planning and rationing,” Sult says.
The shortage is forcing police departments to scavenge for supplies in local shops instead of factory suppliers. And you can bet that the gun industry is salivating as profits rise, courtesy of their hefty investments in the NRA, which in turn stokes fear in the hearts of gun owners everywhere with hyperbolic paranoia about the government “coming for your guns”. Business is so great, they can’t even keep up with demand:
Last month also saw a drastic increase in gun sales, with every US state seeing a rise from the previous month. Ammunition sales were equally steep, with Brownells, the largest supplier of firearm accessories in the world, reporting that it has blown through several years’ worth of ammunition in just a matter of hours. The company apologized for its inability to meet consumer demands.
“There’s been a whole lot of hysteria raised by the [National Rifle Association] about the need to stockpile guns because Obama’s going to take your guns away,” Caroline Brewer, a spokeswoman for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, tells ABC News. “It may mean more gun owners are buying more guns.”
Factories are now struggling to produce enough ammunition to keep up with demand, prompting police departments to share with neighboring counties in order to keep running. The federal government may have experienced a similar shortage if it didn’t prepare ahead of time: the Department of Homeland Security recently ordered 200,000 rounds of bullets at the cost of $45,000 dollars. The ammo will be delivered to a training site in South California.
The agency said there was already a shortage of bullets back in August, which made the threat of “substantial safety issues for the government” a very real one, should law enforcement officials not be adequately armed. The spikes in gun control, which came in waves after Obama’s reelection and the Sandy Hook massacre, drastically worsened the shortage.
Unlike the NRA, I don’t feel safer. Do you?
I sure as hell don’t feel any safer. Thanks again Rania.
You fail to understand Rania. People are buying guys to protect themselves from criminals, in this case, the criminals are in DC. I would much rather all this ammo be in the hands of tens of millions private citizens than in the hands of the government. You should recall what happens to people in countries where the citizens were disarmed. Don’t believe that idiot Piers Morgan, the UK is a socialist hellhole full of violent crime, perhaps not guns, but bats and knives kill just as well.
It is these citizens who hold the wolves of government tyranny at bay, without them you would be quickly deprived of your liberty, property, and most likely your life. I am far more fearful of a trigger happy swat team than I am of a concealed carry citizen. You should go to a police practice session some day to see just how terrible these guys are with guns, that should frighten you.
As costumed goons for the government, the cops, FBI, CIA, DHS, murder people with impunity in the name of the war on terror, in reality it’s a war on you and your liberty. The world is not a utopia, but it sure is a lot safer with an armed citizenry.
@Paul, I’m sure you are in favor of ‘common sense’ gun control. I promise not to use my guns to defend you, you can use you common sense against an armed aggressor.
OMG so it’s the NRA’s fault, you got to be shizzing me. Are you that so unaware that you really buy that load of crap you are trying to sell? Get educated on this issue: A president that served 8 years on the Joyce foundation’s board, that as a Senator voted for severe oppressive “gun/ammo regulation” goes public on pushing “gun reform” laws and parrots the planks of MAIG, Brady, VPC etc.
You are part of the problem. You seem nothing more than a mere casual observer with an opinion.
The next thing you be parroting is the NRA has too much money and influence. It pales in comparison to Mayor Bloomberg’s 22 Billion media empire, which funds the John Hopkins-Bloomberg “Public Health” section that helps create the propaganda, distributed through his media drones and dishonestly uses to promote his anti-second amendment agenda. It pales in the millions of dollars the Joyce foundation has given in grants and funding of biased anti-gun “research”.
New York Governor is pushing legislation that will make a possesion of a “normal capacity” Armlite Rifle (AR) magazine the same offense as rape in the first degree or man slaughter in the first degree. Literally millions of American’s use these in a legal manor and the public benefits from the general security it provides. It’s the same type of magazine that the NBC reporter illegally produced in Washington D.C. but no charges were filed. Double standard? The law applies only when the government deems it so.
December 2012 had over 2.7 “MILLION” NCIS checks for firearms purchases (not the whole number as those with a CCW already had a FBI check with finger prints). That was the highest number ever recorded, except for November with about 2 million checks. The NRA did not do this but rather a Government response of yet even further worthless regulation, restriction, registration and outright bans with even a threat of E.O. by the president if things weren’t moving in the “right” direction.
You and far too many of the naive really don’t understand just why the bill of rights was created. The second has always been the backbone of the bill rights. It separates the power and is the most crucial right to insure the power remains with the people. Deny it, marginalize it, discredit it and demonize it but it has secured your first amendment right and when the second goes then shall the first will follow as history has a damn nasty way of repeating itself.
You benefit from those who take the responsibility to exercise their second amendment right.
Educate yourself on who the key players in this fundamental battle of citizens’ rights or not.
well if u look at the private sale sector there are a bunch of a**$h**ls bought tons of ammo bcoz these people know that it will create panic buying and shortage..so supply cant keep up to demand=profittering,gouging&hoarding..these shortages are mostly caused by people who does this everytime a mass shooting occur.they r making tons of money its putting 500% ontop of the 100% original purchase price..these i call proffesional profitteers..they just rush buy and then wait then shortage then starts re selling it on a overly markup price..i think most pf these people dont really shoot guns they just do it bcoz of enormous profit.LIKE A VULTURE WAITING FOR SOMETHING TO DIE…OR WORSE..