Florida Ammunition Shortage The Tip Of The Iceberg

Updated: Wednesday, May 20, 2009, 2:23 pm -- The National Shooting Sports Foundation issued an email recently alerting dealers that most manufacturers are working three shifts, 24/7 to try and meet the demand, but they are still six months behind in supplying enough ammunition to dealers.

The Huffington Post reported earlier this month that the shortage is driven by the wars in Iraq and Afganistan and police agencies stepping up training after the 9/11 terrorist attacks upon the United States. Interestingly, the Post does not mention that private citizens have been stocking up on ammunition based on President Obama's well documented history of support for gun control measures and concerns over civil unrest in uncertain economic times. Frankly, many police agencies across the nation have curtailed their ammunition purchases because their budgets are close to being broke, meaning there is little extra money left for practice ammunition. Here in Central Ohio, at least one big police agency has scaled back the hours the range is open for qualifying -- not because of a shortage of ammo but because it simply doesn't have the budget for purchasing ammunition for practice. Which has resulted in officers buying and using their own ammunition for qualification purposes.

Further, there is a raw materials shortage. Which any hand-loader will tell you has been the case for nearly a year. Do you know what the world price for scrap brass is today?

And so on . . .



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Actually, the shortage is across the United States, but in Florida in particular firearms dealers and outdoor sports retailers are having a tough time keeping ammunition on the shelves. Worse, they are having trouble getting deliveries.




As pretty much everyone knows, sales of firearms and ammunition are up across the nation after the change in administrations in the White House. The anti-gun history of both the president and most of his key advisers, as well as the leadership of Congress, has thinking people ..well, thinking. And they are acting.



Its not surprising. Even here in the Buckeye State firearms sales are up, and people who have never before owned firearms are taking safety, marksmanship and CCW classes. Attendance at gun shows is up, as well, as people become more enlightened about the very liklihood of restrictions on either firearms purchases or possession. I have met people from urban areas and suburbs, alike, all saying the same thing. They have never been to a gun show before and they don't like the administration's nor the Congress' viewpoints on firearms and gun control.



It used to be said that Bill Clinton armed America when he pushed through the ban on so-called "assault weapons" in the early 1990s, and talked of restrictions on civilian access to ammunition. He is solely responsible for guns and ammo flying off the shelves over those next several years. Today, it is Obama and Company who are arming America. Its not about race, its not about a political party. It is about the Second Amendment and a right that an increasing number of Americans have never thought about . . . until now. It is about a president and his minions trying to have it both ways on the one civil right that protects the entire Bill of Rights.


Here in Ohio we are fortunate to have a pro-gun democrat governor in Ted Strickland. But his lieutentant governor, Lee Fisher, is not so friendly to lawful firearms ownership. Fisher, a former national board member of Handgun Control Inc., now known as the more civil-sounding (but just as dangerous) Brady Campaign, is forming an exploratory committee to look into a 2010 run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by George Voinovich. Voinovich didn't like CCW, but he never pushed anti-gun legislation. Fisher, on the other hand, would likely be an advocate for increased gun control, a theory which has yet to prove it can do anything to fight crime.



There have been spot shortages around the nation regarding ammunition. With so few ammunitino manufacturers left in the U.S., and the U.S. military being the biggest customer right now, don't look for self defense, hunting and sporting ammo to be plentiful anytime soon.