While there isn’t much to be certain of in 2020, one thing is for sure: the average American is hard-pressed to find ammunition right now.
From sea to shining sea, Americans are investing in brass and lead, with the market being anything but saturated as supply lines wear thin and shelves run empty.
In Indiana, a local gun store chain by the name of Blythe’s Sport Shops managed to clear an astounding 80,000 rounds of ammunition in less than half an hour after they opened their doors for the day.
As people lined up elsewhere to vote, others were lining up outside of the locked doors of the Blythe’s locations after hearing a truck had brought in a shipment of ammunition the night prior.
Within thirty minutes, 80,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition -the most common defensive pistol caliber in America- was gone.
According to the NWI Times, many individuals, including a few members of law enforcement, found that they had arrived too late and were greeted by empty shelves.
In addition to rioting, pandemic woes and state lockdowns, promises of draconian gun control measures by former Vice President Joe Biden and his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris have driven ammo and arms sales to all time highs.
Due to the demand, most -if not all- ammunition and arms manufacturers have had trouble keeping up, with some ammo manufacturers facing tens of millions of dollars in backorders.
In late September, Scottsdale-based ammunition company Ammo Incorporated was backlogged with over $80,000,000 in orders, and were struggling to keep up.
Earlier this year, the average 50-round box of 9mm was around $8 to $10 a box. Recent listings on websites and in gun stores (that actually have the ammo to sell) are often now tacking an average price of $29 to a single box.
While some firearms ammunition companies, such as Underwood Ammuntion, attempted to keep prices low until it was deemed unsustainable, due to rising costs of materials.
To make matters worse, extreme environmental regulation over the last decade effectively closed many US-based mines and shuttered family-owned businesses, causing the United States to be dependent on foreign sources for lead, brass and other components.
Government shutdowns did not help matters, as mining and material processing plants were closed for months on end in many locations.
At one point during the summer, only two nations were pumping out munitions with any sense of mass quantity- Russia and China.
While firearms production has picked back up, ammunition is still lagging behind, creating a unique problem for first-time buyers who waited until 2020 to arm themselves.
Some individuals are currently back-ordering ammunition in bulk, with projected arrival dates as early as January to March of 2021.
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