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no shortage EH oldtimer??

hopalong

Well-known member
Thought you said there was no shortage in montana oldtimer :roll: :roll:

Fear of regulation drives gun, ammo shortage
Posted 3/29/2009 7:36 PM | Comments 79 | Recommend 10 E-mail | Save | Print |




Yahoo! Buzz Digg Newsvine Reddit FacebookWhat's this?By Ben Neary, Associated Press
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Concern that the Obama administration could impose a new ban on some semiautomatic weapons is driving worried gun owners to stockpile ammunition and cartridge reloading components at such a rate that manufacturers can't meet demand.
Attorney General Eric Holder last month suggested that President Obama's administration favors reinstituting a U.S. ban on the sale of assault weapons. President Bill Clinton first signed such a ban into law in 1994, generally blocking some military-style guns with magazines that hold many cartridges. President George W. Bush had allowed the ban to expire.

"We have heard from all across the country that there is a tremendous shortage of ammunition," said Lawrence Keane, senior vice president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. "We've heard this from the manufacturers, that their customers are calling them trying to get supplies for inventory, and that the manufacturers are going full-bore, pardon the pun."

The Newtown, Conn.-based foundation is a trade organization representing firearms and ammunition manufacturers as well as retail gun shops.

"Semiautomatic rifles are selling at an incredibly brisk pace," said Keane, adding that many manufacturers of semiautomatic rifles and pistols are already so backordered that this year's entire production is already spoken for.
He said the current ammunition shortage followed the increase in gun sales. While the current shortage includes cartridges for popular semiautomatic rifles and pistols that were covered by the Clinton-era weapons ban, it also extends to other common varieties including common revolver cartridges and .22 rimfire cartridges used for hunting or target shooting.

In Wyoming, the run on bullets and reloading components reached such a frenzy that Cheyenne retailer Frontier Arms recently began rationing sales, said Becky Holtz, co-owner of the shop. Holtz said she's also been selling semiautomatic rifles as fast as she can put them on the shelves.

"You know there's something wrong when I've got little old ladies coming in buying 5,000 rounds of .22 shells," Holtz said.

Jere Jordan is general manager Midsouth Shooters Supply in Clarksville, Tenn. — one of a handful of firms in the country that specializes in mail-order sales of ammunition and reloading components and equipment.

In common with similar supply houses, Midsouth has run out of most ammunition in the calibers commonly used in semiautomatic pistols and popular military rifles. It's also backordered on many other types of cartridges.

"After the election, where you have a change of parties to a more liberal side, I would say I guess the conservatives want to protect what they feel might be taken away from them, either through a tax, or an all-out ban," Jordan said.

Midsouth and other similar dealers say they're also sold out of most varieties of primers used by hobbyists to handload cartridges. Primers are the explosive caps that ignite gunpowder in rifle and pistol cartridges.

Jordan said his company is taking orders for bullets and primers, but isn't sure when they'll be filled.

"The wait? We're not even guessing on the wait anymore," Jordan said. "It's exceeding 60 days."

Keane, of the Shooting Sports Foundation, said there are no national statistics that directly track firearms sales. However, he noted that there's been a sharp rise in the number of instant background checks that the FBI performs each time a person buys a gun at a gun store. Such checks are not required for personal sales, or for gun purchases at gun shows.

The FBI performed more than 4.2 million firearms background checks from November 2008 through this January, according to agency figures. That's an increase of more than 31% above the 3.2 million checks the agency performed from November 2007 through January 2008.

Keane said concerns other than the prospect of new federal regulations are also driving gun and ammunition sales. Those include the faltering economy and the potential side-effect of an increase in crime, he said.

"There's a concern about what's happening to the stock market, what's happening with unemployment, what's happening with the tremendous increase in government spending, whether there will be hyperinflation," Keane said.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Rebuttal oldtimer??????
 

MsSage

Well-known member
pppssssttttt thats in Wyoming......Here is Montana

More stockpiling ammunition: Fear of potential Obama laws causing mass sales
By PERRY BACKUS Ravalli Republic



FLORENCE - Every day, Darren Newsom's three Bitterroot Valley Ammunition facilities crank out 300,000 rounds of ammunition.

It's not nearly enough.

“I'm going about 100,000 rounds in the wrong direction every day,” Newsom said. “We probably have about six months of back orders right now.”

Newsom has been in the ammunition manufacturing business for more than 20 years and he's never seen demand this high.


Fearful of the Obama administration's potential to tighten gun control laws, people from all over the country are stocking up on guns and ammunition.

“I went through the Clinton years and there was a bit of a scare then,” Newsom said. “This is like the Clinton years on steroids. � On the day of the election, our phones started going nuts. It hasn't stopped since.”

As a master distributor for ATK - the world's largest ammunition business - Bitterroot Valley Ammunition supplies other ammunition manufacturers around the country with the components needed to make bullets.

“I get a million primers in every other day and most are shipped out the very next day,” he said. “I have 100 million primers on back order right now. We just can't get enough of them.”


At a recent gun show in Salt Lake City, Newsom sold somewhere between 300,000 and 400,000 rounds in the first two hours.

“It's just unreal,” he said. “Somewhere in lots of basements around the country, there are millions of rounds of ammunition being stored.”

Local businesses have felt the ammunition shortage.

At Bob Ward's in Hamilton, Mike Matteson said there has been quite a run on ammunition and reloading supplies like bullets and powder since the election.

“We are especially low right now with pistol ammunition,” Matteson said. “There are four or five calibers that we don't even have on our shelves.”


Matteson said he didn't believe manufacturers were prepared for the panic buying that's occurred since the election.

“They tell us that they're months behind on some calibers - .22 ammo is really tough to come by,” he said. “Our gun sales are up somewhere between 30 (percent) to 35 percent or better. A good percentage of those sales are pistols.”

Firearm and ammo sales aren't the only place where concerns about gun control are cropping up.

Ravalli County Sheriff Chris Hoffman has seen a marked increase in the number of people applying for concealed weapons permits since November.

Montana is a “will-issue” state for concealed weapons permits. Any law-abiding citizen who fills out the application and can show they've completed some form of firearm safety course can obtain a permit.

The county is averaging about 38 requests for renewals or new permits a month. Last year, the requests averaged about 25.

“It's definitely a noticeable increase,” Hoffman said.

The sheriff said he's hearing from people who are concerned about what might happen over the next four years with the gun control issue.

“We are being asked what would be the stance of local law enforcement if the federal government calls for the confiscation of firearms,” Hoffman said. “That's a very real concern for people.”


Gary Marbut, the longtime president of the Montana Shooting Sports Association in Missoula, said the seeds of the current ammunition shortage can be traced back almost a decade to the Y2K scare.

“Many people became concerned about their ability to get ammunition back then and they stocked up quite a bit,” Marbut said.

In the intervening years, China blossomed and bought up world copper supplies. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan used up warehouses full of U.S. ammunition that needed to be replenished. That forced higher prices for civilian ammunition and people started using some of the bullets they had squirreled away after Y2K, Marbut said.

And now, with the current economic and political uncertainty, people are looking to restock their supplies at a time when most ammunition manufacturers aren't willing to expand their operations.

“The whole demand side of this is so flexible and the supply side is not,” he said.

The ammunition shortage is creating a bit of an economic boon for Ravalli County.

Newsom plans to open a fourth manufacturing facility in Stevensville sometime in September. He employs about 50 people right now and could add up to another 100.

“There are a lot of people out of work right now,” he said. “Two years ago, I probably couldn't find 10 people to go to work for us. Now I have 10 people a day coming in here looking for a job.”

Newsom believes the need for ammunition won't go away. This scare is creating a whole new group of ammunition customers for the future, he said.

Need proof?

Take the .380 caliber pistol. A year ago, Newsom said there was hardly a demand for the ammunition. Since then, the .380 auto pistol has become very popular with women.

“One year ago, it wasn't in demand and now it's some of the most sought ammunition in the U.S.,” he said. “There are more people getting into shooting and that's one thing about ammunition - you can only shoot it once.”
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2009/05/20/news/local/news02.txt
 

hopalong

Well-known member
Yep :oops:
Looks like the reason there is no shortage in Montana is that they took it all from Wyoming and the rest of the country :wink: :wink: :wink:
 

MsSage

Well-known member
LOL yeah them north western states all look alike :wink:
Nope seems Montana is in the same boat as the rest of the country.......
 

hopalong

Well-known member
MsSage said:
LOL yeah them north western states all look alike :wink:
Nope seems Montana is in the same boat as the rest of the country.......

You know that and I know that but oldtimer says ammo is plentiful where he is!! :roll: :roll: :roll:
 
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