Curious Times

Ordinarily I am NOT one to support the "gun nut" viewpoint. These folks often strike me as conspiracy theorists who are overly paranoid.

But, there's a sudden and real shortage of ammo available. A friend noticed it last weekend on a visit to a local gun shop. Then last night I went shooting at an indoor range and there were "one box per customer" signs up all over. Even the reload I generally shoot wasn't available in 9mm or .45.

A chat with the owner provided some insight. Evidently the issue is a shortage of primers. No primer, no ammo. And this primer is mostly hung up in customs (as most of it comes from China these days).

Like most problems, I'm sure there's no one simple cause. I know a few gun nuts who stockpiled ammo right after the election. That likely sucked a good deal of inventory out of the supply chain and set up the situation. But it wouldn't be hard to imagine the anti-gun folks influencing a customs slowdown.

If this is the case, that's unfortunate. Whatever their position on guns, I find most folks agree that most of the problems likely don't stem from legal owners. So, why punish these legal owners who follow the rules, store and handle their firearms responsibly, and use them to hunt or sport shoot? Especially when the problem is with the $50 Saturday Night Special bought on a streetcorner complete with 50 rounds.

But, maybe it's not a conspiracy, but only a coincidence. Will be interesting to see if the trend continues.

-Sean-

AMMENDED: Had an interesting chat with friend who's shot competitively for years, told me some more stories of gun nut stockpiling that make that seem an even more compelling than previously. This one may be an interesting example of really skewed supply-and-demand economics.