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As items like hand sanitizer begin to line the shelves again, another shortage is taking place: firearms ammunition.
According to gunsamerica.com, a nationwide ammunition shortage began around the start of the pandemic, when gun stores were forcibly closed and labeled as “non-essential.” The riots, the reduction in policing, the release of criminals from prison due to the virus and the upcoming election have also been listed as possible reasons why some people simply want to stock up.
The National Rifle Association tweeted back in June that during the first half of 2020 alone, more than two million Americans became first-time gun owners. Steve O’Tool, manager of Gun Monkey Outfitters in Osceola, echoed these statistics.
“You have people who got scared, they’re in Des Moines up near Merle Hay and they saw the riot that went on there and they may have never owned a gun before and went out and bought guns and ammo,” he said.
O’Tool said the shortage is also continuing because of the speed at which factories are getting back to business.
“COVID kind of cut back on the manufacturing end of it, because for a while they were shut down. And then when they did reopen, they reopened at half-staff, so they got behind in making it. So, it’s just been a snowball effect,” he said.
Local businesses
Aaron Taylor, co-owner of A&M Gun and Pawn in Creston said that even some small-town businesses in the area have begun to suffer from the shortage.
“Around here, a lot of people don’t have any firearms or ammo,” he said.
O’Tool said that after the shortage hit the chain stores and larger retail establishments the effects trickled down the line.
“What happens, is when the large box stores like Scheels and Cabela’s and Bass Pro, when they start running out then people get on the phone and start calling local, small mom-and-pop gun stores and buying what they have. So, it just snowballs down to the little guy,” he said.
Local stores are doing what they can to respond to the shortage and keep up with high-demand. But O’Tool said that the ammunition shortage that is currently gripping the country has hit his business hard.
“It’s terrible because I can’t get guns, I can’t get ammunition, it’s hard for me to sell a gun when I don’t have the ammunition to sell with it. It’s tough. It’s been a rough year,” he said.
O’Tool said that when out-of-state customers stop in to see him, he’s able to hear news of the shortage’s effects in other states.
“I get people in here from all over the United States and they’re saying it’s the same everywhere. ... I just had a guy in here (Friday) from Indiana and he showed me pictures of a box store in Indiana and the shelves were empty. Hardly any ammunition,” he said.
Along with ammunition, certain types of firearms are also in high-demand. Taylor said that while chain stores around the country still have their high-dollar items in stock, their high-capacity weapons and pistols are disappearing, as well.
“Most of the stuff that people want to buy right now, they can’t get. It’s pretty much sold out,” he said.
Consumer response
Just as people responded to COVID-19 by hoarding toilet paper, some gun owners are responding to the current unrest and political climate by hoarding guns and ammunition. But what is the correct response?
“I, personally, am not in a panic but a lot of people are. I don’t think you really should be in a panic,” Taylor said. “I think there are a lot of hoarders out there that are making it hard, but there are also a lot of regulations that people have passed to make it hard for people like us to get ammo.”
Though stockpiling guns and ammunition causes others to go without, still some gun-owners are choosing to hoard.
“Everybody right now is hoarding it because of the political situation, so everybody’s scared, so they’re going out and buying ammo,” O’Tool said.
O’Tool described what it looks like for gun-owners to strike a balance.
“Everybody should have a supply on-hand for this situation, but yet you don’t want to stockpile a bunch of ammunition in your house either, just because of fire hazards and that kind of stuff, and people breaking in and stealing it if they know you have it,” O’Tool said.
Taylor said that the answer is not panicking, but instead getting out to vote.
“In my opinion, this is political,” O’Tool said. “More than anything, it is political.”
For information on the presidential candidate’s official policies regarding the Second Amendment, visit joebiden.com/gunsafety and assets.donaldjtrump.com/Second_Amendment_Rights.pdf.