Law enforcement has since begun to use the logs in investigations and prosecutions of those prohibited from owning bullets who bought them anyway.
Gun rights advocates, meanwhile, point to a successful court challenge of a law that would have applied these provisions statewide. A small group of gun-control advocates have, for years , been making the case that bullets are as good, if not better, a target for regulation than guns. Without bullets, they point out, a gun is a useless piece of metal.
And unlike guns, bullets must continually be replaced. Four states and the District of Columbia require a license to buy ammunition , and getting that license requires passing a background check. The proposed new system in California would require a background check at every purchase, and would draw on the database of prohibited purchasers, updated in real time, that the state already uses for gun sales.
In , New York state passed the SAFE Act, a similar law that would have required ammunition buyers to pass a background check at the point of purchase. Federal officials said the Brady Act — which established the system of firearm background checks — does not allow NICS to be used for bullets. Can you help us make a difference? The Marshall Project produces journalism that makes an impact.
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The funds we raise now will allow us to commit the time and attention needed to tell stories that are driving real change. The most popular whoppers purport collusion between the big ammo companies to stockpile ammo and drive up demand, as well as a secret directive from the Biden administration to withhold ammo from citizens and only sell it to the military.
While these conspiracy theories are certainly tasty to chew on, the truth is as bland as an unbuttered slice of bread. That number is staggering. While gun sales traditionally spike in election years, the unforeseen pressures created by the events of created unprecedented, history-making demand — and it was impossible to see it coming. According to Tom Taylor, chief marketing officer and executive vice president for commercial sales with Sig Sauer, there is no sinister plot afoot.
There is no shortage of guns and ammo — we are manufacturing more than ever. Supply can simply not keep up with demand. Large manufacturers such as Vista Outdoor are experiencing the same challenges related to supply and demand. Those million rounds are over and above the quantity required to meet previous peak production metrics. Ramping up to meet these demands does not happen overnight. Expanding production means additional shifts, which, in turn, require a larger staff that must be trained.
Finally, Vanderbrink pointed out his beefed-up infrastructure only works efficiently when a commensurate inventory of raw material is available — in particular, primers and brass are in short supply. Ammunition manufacturing plants being pushed beyond production capacity is only one part of the problem. Hungry and in some cases greedy customers share some of the blame as well.
Around the holidays, I encountered a young shopper at my store who did not own a firearm chambered for a rimfire round but felt he should buy a bunch of. While hoarding is certainly not helping the situation, one can understand that type of response, especially considering the past 12 months have been such a roller coaster of anxiety. A greater concern is the opportunistic individuals who have chosen to take advantage of a crisis to line their own pockets.
The ammo crisis is tailor-made to attract this type of unethical entrepreneurship as well. To combat scalping, many stores have imposed strict buying limits on customers and chosen to remain tight-lipped about scheduled delivery dates. Sadly, certain brick-and-mortar stores across the country are in cahoots with scalpers as well. The military administers its contracted production carefully, to ensure it will never run short on supply even if a new warzone or emergency flares up.
All DoD orders take priority…which allows the Army to maintain a stable and ready workforce and equipment to address a surge in requirements if necessary. This is true partially because military ammo is mostly built on separate production lines.
But what about those stories you might have read about the military increasing its spending on ammunition? Most military contracts are written in a way that obligates companies that get the winning bid to produce much more ammo than is actually called for. So technically, civilian ammo production could be displaced by the military if the full extent of the contracts were called in.
In reality, the way the military goes about budgeting and purchasing ammo is a predictably slow, boring process. Each year the DoD provides a 5-year snapshot of small-caliber ammunition needs.
It was a Wednesday in mid-March last year—specifically, March 18—and he was checking the websites of his various distributors. People blame the shortage on the election, but it was happening way before that. Combs is one of the thousands of retailers around the country staring at empty ammo shelves—his gun rack is pretty bare, too—and fielding calls from as far away as Idaho and South Dakota.
No ammo. Thanks for calling. But it can also be explained by the dismal science of economics and basic mathematics. In , the last stats I could find, we had , full-time law enforcement officers.
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