Police ammunition supply runs short
Local law enforcement feels pinch as resources for training dwindle
Written by Pam Tharp
A nationwide ammunition shortage is beginning to impact some area police departments.
The tight supply also is frustrating individuals who want to buy ammunition, as well as the gun dealers and store owners who want to sell it.
Whether the cause is hoarding by gun owners fearful of new, proposed regulations or large ammunition orders by the federal government, the result is an almost empty ammunition pipeline.
Hagerstown Police Chief Keith Folkner was on the phone recently with his supplier, trying to get an answer on how soon he’ll receive ammunition used in officer training. Folkner ordered the ammunition in January, but his supplier still can’t provide a delivery date.
“We have duty ammo,” Folkner said. “We use a different ammo for training because it’s less expensive. If the training ammo doesn’t come by summer, we’ll have to cut back on some of our normal training. If we have to use duty ammo for training, we can’t afford to train.”
Weapons also are in short supply, Folkner said. He ordered three M4 carbines in January to replace the old military surplus M16s the department now has.
The supplier said it could be from August to the end of the year before those guns are available, Folkner said.
“You’d think law enforcement would go to the top of the list,” Folkner said. “I only ordered three, while some gun shops sell 50 to 60 a month, so they’re the priority.”
Centerville Police Chief Ed Buchholz said he recently tried to order ammunition for his department and was given a delivery date a year away. Buchholz, who said the department has enough ammunition for training, admits he’s a little worried about the situation.
“I haven’t checked all my resources yet, but we have requirements we have to meet. We have to qualify on our weapons, and for qualification, we have to use the same ammo we use in our duty weapons,” Buchholz said.
“It’s getting a lot more expensive and with the tax ‘circuit breakers’ we aren’t getting more tax money.”
Liberty Police Chief Barry Bryant also was worried earlier this month his officers wouldn’t get to qualify on their weapons this year because he couldn’t find the ammunition.
Officers and reserve officers are required by the state to qualify at least once a year on their weapons, but most departments do so several times a year.
Bryant said panic buying of ammunition by the general public has made it hard for police departments to obtain what they need.
Last week, Bryant located 1,000 rounds of 9mm ammo for his officers, but he declined to say where he bought it. Liberty officers and reserve officers will do qualification testing on Tuesday, he said.
Wayne County Sheriff Jeff Cappa and Union County Sheriff Eric Cantrell both said their departments have adequate supplies of ammunition for duty, training and qualification.
How soon they’ll get more ammunition is another question, Cappa said.
“I placed an order two months ago, and they said it could be 12 to 18 months before we get it,” Cappa said. “I’ve never seen it like this. I’ve heard some other law enforcement agencies are having trouble getting what they need, but we’re OK now.”
The ammunition display case was two-thirds empty at the Connersville Wal-Mart this week, and a sign on the case said the store has a three-box limit on ammunition sales. Customers’ names will be placed on a waiting list, but no ammunition will be held for those on the list, the sign said.
The situation’s the same at the Richmond and Oxford Wal-Mart stores, said Liberty Councilman Ross Keasling. An online supplier Keasling has used in the past also is sold out of every category of handgun ammunition except .22 caliber, Keasling said. The .22 caliber ammo was about 150 percent of the normal price, he said.
Ammunition supplies are the tightest now in the 23 years he’s been in business, said Rick Frame, owner of Frame’s Outdoor Sports, near Liberty.
“I get calls every day and have people here looking every day for ammunition,” Frame said. “For us, it’s been short for about two months. The 9mm, .22s and .223s are hard to get. All the suppliers are in the same boat.”
Evertt French of Laurel came to Frame’s this week looking for .45 caliber ammunition but didn’t find it. He said he’d been to every gun shop in Connersville with no success.
“Everybody’s worried the law’s going to change, and they’re buying everything they can get,” French said. “I’ve been getting .22s whenever I can. I like to hunt and shoot targets, stuff like that, and I also want some for protection.”
Black Bore Firearms in Richmond got a dozen boxes of 9mm this week, the most it’s had in a long time, said employee Doug Kaler. Kaler blames panic buying brought on by fear of new gun regulations as the reason for the shortage.
“They’re ‘buying it to bury it,’” Kaler said. “It’s shaken up everything, even reloading supplies. It’s even affected holsters. We have them on back order. We’ve had customers from as far away as Indianapolis looking for ammunition.”
The run on ammunition comes amid Internet discussion about recent purchases by the Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration.
Homeland Security sought bids for up to 1.1 billion rounds of ammunition for over the next five years, but agency spokesman Marsha Catron told USA Today purchases might not run that high, and most of it would go to required training for about 130,000 armed federal agents in various agencies. The DHS ammunition purchases have been steady since 2009.
After the Social Security Administration in 2012 solicited bids for 174,000 rounds of .357 ammunition, the agency got so many questions from the public about its need for that powerful of a bullet that its inspector general’s office put out a statement.
SSA has 295 armed agents that protect offices around the country, and that ammunition is standard issue for the arms they carry on the job, the agency said.
Frame is hoping the frenzy for ammunition will subside now that spring has arrived. Sportsmen can occupy themselves in ways other than ordering ammunition, he said, as he sold fishing bait to two customers.
Black Bore owner Tim Cole said the demand for ammunition rose after the president’s re-election and the Newtown, Conn., shootings in December, and it hasn’t stopped. The situation is unlikely to change as long as federal lawmakers continue to discuss banning some weapons, he said.
“If they keep talking about bans, it will keep the frenzy going and supplies won’t recover,” Cole said.
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