Why is There a Bullet Shortage?

Gun dealers are experiencing a shortage of bullets, supposedly due to the election of a new, non-Republican president.  Why are the two events connected?  People are afraid Democrats are going to “take their guns” just when they need them most — during an economic crisis, in their minds.  This is from the Orlando Sentinel:

“Selling bullets may be the most secure job in Florida as long as supplies last.

After months of heavy buying, gun dealers across the state are experiencing shortages.

Some say it began with the election of President Barack Obama. Others say it’s about the economic downturn or fear of crime. Whatever the reasons, ammunition has been selling like plywood and bottled water in the days before a hurricane.

“The survivalist in all of us comes out,” said John Ritz, manager of East Orange Shooting Sports in Winter Park. “It’s more about protecting what you have.”

There is no logic in what this man said. Just because a Democrat was elected president is no reason to prepare for a scenario that involves shooting people.  Some gun owners say they are stocking up on bullets because they’re afraid Democrats will want to take their guns away.   If you thought someone was going to steal your computer would you stock up on software for it?  Buying bullets won’t prevent any of those nasty gun-hating Democrats taking the bullets from you as they steal all your guns and overturn the Constitution, etc. (which is really a joke).    Democrats have no intention of taking people’s precious guns from them.

I was listening to conservatives chat on online “radio” about a week ago when a caller to the show said there were no bullets left in Missouri. “Why do you suppose that is”? asked the show’s host.  “They’re getting ready, aren’t they”, she answered her own question, to which the man replied, “Yep, they are”.  Getting ready for what, and who is “they”?  Generally, the consensus  seems to be that people really fear economic riots soon, and our streets will become bloodbaths with people shooting each other, for reasons that are unclear.   Maybe they just want to use all those bullets they bought. That paranoia favors the idea that people will have to protect their things, at a cost of shooting everyone who’s coming after it — presumably “Democrats” or worse, the gun-grabbing liberals.    I don’t own anything worth killing anyone for  and I don’t know anyone who does.  This is all ridiculous but never mind that — the most disturbing thing is that people (mainly in the south) are stocking up on bullets to the point where stores have run out of them.  This should make everyone worry.  It seems to be the worst in Florida, which should also make people cancel vacations to Florida.

Are we headed for a Mad Max world where it’s every (sociopathic) man for himself, protecting his “stuff”?  No, we aren’t, but I wish everyone knew that.  If there were economic riots, a gun wouldn’t do you any good anyway.

“Demand for bullets is so strong that suppliers are restricting deliveries.

“Where we used to get 20 to 30 cases [in a shipment], we may get two to three cases now,” said Vic Grechniw of Florida Ammo Traders in Tampa. “The supply just isn’t there. . . . Everybody is pretty much rushing out to get their hands on whatever they can.”

Most in demand is handgun ammunition, including 9 mm and .45-caliber for semiautomatic pistols and .38-caliber for revolvers. Clerks at local Walmart stores, including Apopka and Kissimmee, say those sizes, along with .22-caliber, are on back order at the chain’s warehouses.

American gun owners buy about 7 billion rounds of ammunition yearly, according to the National Rifle Association. It has been warning its several million members that Obama favors raising taxes on bullets to make them prohibitively expensive.

“Anecdotal evidence certainly suggests that the demand for ammunition is continuing to increase, and that is certainly attributable to gun owners’ concerns with the current administration,” said Ted Novin, a spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade association representing 4,700 members.

The Sentinel

I will never understand hand gun owners, or figure out who it is they want to shoot,  or what the person they shoot has to do to get shot.  What degree of transgression on the part of an ordinary American citizen has to take place before the gun owner decides he’s had enough and blows them away?