http://teapartyeconomist.com/2013/04/08/ammo-rationing-is-here/
Ammo Rationing Is Here
Written by Gary North on April 8, 2013
Ammunition is in such short supply (at today’s prices) that police departments in east Texas are not able to buy it. Officers are not issued ammunition. They have to buy their own.
There is something strange with a market when any item becomes so scarce that rationing is required. Under normal circumstances, the manufacturer would simply hike prices in order to reduce demand and also increase profits. There is something abnormal with the price system in a particular line of production when an item is in such short supply that there are people lining up to buy it, and the stores that sell it have run out.
If I were in the ammunition manufacturing business, I would simply double the price of my product line. I would test it in order to see where the price point is at which demand is reduced, and profit is highest. it seems to me that the rational response to increased demand is increased prices.
For some reason, the ammunition industry is not responding in a way that I would regard as rational. The same thing is true of gun manufacturing. The manufacturers say that they are manufacturing guns at full capacity, yet there is still a shortage. People are lining up to buy guns and ammunition, and there seem to be more people who want to buy than who want to sell.
The restriction may be some sort of internal restraint of sellers, based on an unwillingness to anger the public. I cannot think of any other rational reason. Prices should keep going up until there are no more people out there who want to buy, and the people who want to sell, whether owners of used guns or sellers of new guns, are in a position to sell all that they can.
There has been a fundamental shift in the United States regarding gun ownership. People who want to buy are now in such a state of agitation that it is unlikely that we are going to go back to what I would call pre-Newtown conditions. There are such fears regarding the Senate and Obama, that the public forgets that the House can block any legislation. The public is convinced that the government is going to do whatever it can to keep gun owners from buying guns, and therefore buyers at the margin are finally loading up.
Reports coming from the industry indicate that people are coming into gun stores and buying three or four guns at a time. They walk out with $3,000-$4,000 worth of guns. In other words, one background check leads to the sale of 3 to 4 times as many guns as there are background checks.
This is good news. It means that the public has finally realized that the Democrats would like to confiscate the public’s guns, and the public is buying while they still can. This is going to make it ever more difficult for the gun-control advocates to get their legislation through Congress.
Continue Reading on www.news-journal.com
East Texas stores ration ammo as shortage affects law enforcement
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Michael Cavazos
Stores ration ammo as shortage affects law enforcement
Marvin Wrich buys ammunition primers this past week from Kay Martin at Jack of Pawns in Longview. The store has limited customers to one box of each caliber of ammo the store has in stock.
Michael Cavazos
Stores ration ammo as shortage affects law enforcement
Marvin Wrich buys ammunition primers from Kay Martin of Jack of Pawns on Tuesday April 2, 2013. (Michael Cavazos/News-Journal Photo)
Michael Cavazos
Stores ration ammo as shortage affects law enforcement
Marvin Wrich buys ammunition talks about the ammunition shortage while shopping for primers at Jack of Pawns on Tuesday April 2, 2013. (Michael Cavazos/News-Journal Photo)
Michael Cavazos
Stores ration ammo as shortage affects law enforcement
Almost bare shelves of ammunition are seen this past week at Jack of Pawns in Longview.
Michael Cavazos
Stores ration ammo as shortage affects law enforcement
Ammunition shelves at Jack of Pawns on Tuesday April 2, 2013. (Michael Cavazos/News-Journal Photo)
Posted: Sunday, April 7, 2013 4:00 am | Updated: 7:06 am, Sun Apr 7, 2013.
East Texas stores ration ammo as shortage affects law enforcementBy Sarah Thomas sthomas@news-journal.comLongview News-Journal
A nationwide ammunition shortage prompted Gregg County Sheriff Maxey Cerliano to notify deputies in March that they would have to supply their own ammunition for this year’s firearm qualifications — something Cerliano had never done in 13 years in office.
The sheriff was able to pull the plug on that plan this past week, when the department’s bullet order, placed more than 60 days ago, finally came in.
The shipment arrived just in time, since Gregg County deputies must renew their firearm qualifications this month, Cerliano said.
“I have instructed my firearms instructor to place another order so we don’t end up in this jam again,” Cerliano said, adding that, normally, such an order would not be placed for several more months.
“It’s still hard to come by in bulk,” the sheriff said.
Like Gregg County, law enforcement agencies nationwide are feeling the squeeze as ammunition flies off the shelves across the country.
A spokeswoman for the Tennessee Highway Patrol said the agency was waiting on rifle and shotgun ammunition ordered in November.
The Phoenix Police Department has stopped providing officers with 100 rounds of ammunition per month for practice.
In January, police chiefs in Central Texas said they were having trouble arming their officers because of shortages of assault rifles and ammunition.
James Godell, owner of the The Gun Doctor in Longview, said although he has been forced to limit purchases to the public, he doesn’t limit sales to officers.
“If they are buying it for their duty weapons, we don’t ration it. We try our best to take care of them first,” he said.
Harrison County sheriff’s office spokesman Jay Webb said his department has not had any problems maintaining ammunition, but rising prices have hit the department’s budget.
“There is an ample supply for training needs, but it is more expensive” he said.
Webb said that stock will be used up in May when deputies in Harrison County complete their firearms qualifications.
He said he didn’t believe there would be any problems when the department places its next order except that it could cost more.
Webb said he’s seeing about a 20 percent increase in price.
Fear fuels frenzy
The national and statewide ammunition shortage continues to push up demand and prices while stripping some store shelves bare as gun owners rush to stockpile ammunition in anticipation of new gun laws.
The fear of new gun legislation stems from a string of mass shootings — Oak Creek, Wis., Aurora, Colo., and Newtown, Conn., — that many believe could lead to passage of new, stricter state and federal gun control statutes.
Kim Bowling, assistant manager of Jack of Pawns in Longview, said her store has limited sales to maintain their stock. Customers are only allowed one box of each caliber the store has in stock, including 9 mm, .40 caliber and .45 caliber bullets.
“If we had not put a limit on it when we did, we wouldn’t have anything,” she said. “We can’t find it, and what we do find is very expensive.”
The shortage has pushed prices up from $3 to $11 per box in the past 30 days, said Jack of Pawns owner Kay Martin.
Martin said the price of a 50-round box of 9 mm hollow point bullets went from $24.95 to $34.99.
A 25-round box of .40 caliber bullets increased from $24.95 to $32.95, she said.
“We’re doing everything we can not to pass the increased prices onto our customers, but if it’s going up $10 a box on us, we have to go up $10 a box on the customer,” Bowling said.
She added that ammunition for many caliber handguns is difficult to find.
She said long-gun calibers such as .223, .308 and .3030 are also difficult to find.
“Ammo for the .22 long rifle is impossible to get right now,” she said.
Bowling believes the military and government requests for ammunition also is adding to the shortage.
Price gouging
And, Bowling said, her store now takes whatever ammunition it can get — and she’s not alone.
Scalpers also are buying any and every kind of bullet they can find.
“These people are buying it and then selling it on eBay or right out of their trucks, and they are charging more than double for it,” Martin said. “They’re no better than scalpers.”
Although the shortage has caused Martin to increase her price and limit purchases, she said Jack of Pawns is doing better than most gun dealers.
“I’m being told I have more than Gander Mountain and the Bass Pro Shops, so that’s good for us,” she said.
Martin said she has seen customers come from Midland-Odessa, Texarkana, Little Rock, Ark., Oklahoma and Louisiana — all looking for ammo they can’t find closer to home.
“I have a customer base of about 28,000,” she said. “I even had a guy call me from Colorado looking for ammo.”
Godell, like Bowling, has been forced to limit purchases to his non-law enforcement customers.
The Gun Doctor limits .22 caliber long rifle ammunition to five boxes per transaction, and sales of handgun ammunition has been limited to three boxes per transaction.
“We have to ration it out. If we let them, people would buy up every little thing we have,” he said.
The increased demand and the impulse to hoard, Godell said, has led to some customers coming in multiple times per day.
“That’s just the loophole in it,” he said.
During the 12 years The Gun Doctor has been open, Godell said he has never witnessed a run on firearms and ammunition that comes close to what is happening today.
Godell said he has a wide range of items on back order, including handguns, semi-automatic rifles, primers and gun powder
“We have seen shortages, but this is a new animal altogether,” he said.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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