Some have speculated that the ammo shortage is a result of market manipulation by the government. I think the shortage is a social phenomena largely the same as a run on banks. All it takes is an initial panic to get it started, like say, the government threatening to steal 10% of deposits, in the case of banks, or the government threatening a rash of new, draconian gun laws, in the case of ammo. Once the initial panic buyers clear the shelves, then other people start to join the panic because the shelves are bare. Most gun owners don’t shoot all that often, and tend to buy ammo as they go rather than stockpile. If all those people decide they need to stockpile, because they don’t know when they’ll see another box of .223, the panic feeds on itself. Add to that the fact that you hear a lot of talk of coming civil wars in gun circles these days, and you have a recipe for bare shelves for quite some time. Are the huge government orders affecting the supply? I don’t know enough about the ammo business to speak to that, but it’s certainly not helping the panic.
Author: Sebastian
How Bad is the Ammo Shortage?
It looks like it’s frustrating people who are in a rush to kill themselves. Bitter and I were following this story last night, of a guy in a standoff at our local Dick’s, who held up the counter with a handgun, stole a shotgun, some shotgun ammo, and headed into the bathroom. I told her:
“He’s probably suicidal. I’ll bet he offed himself in the bathroom. Moreover, how much do you want to bet he obtained the 9mm pistol to do the deed, and has been driving around looking for ammo. Frustrated he couldn’t find any, he ends up at Dick’s, who doesn’t have any 9mm ammo either, but they have shotgun shells. Out of options, he uses the empty pistol to hold up the Dick’s to get a shotgun, grabbed some shells from the shelves, and headed to the bathroom to kill himself.”
It’s looking like I was right. I could have saved the cops a lot of trouble. I was going to blog this last night, but Bitter talked me out of it, thinking it was a reaching conclusion. I said “I’ll bet you they find out he had no ammo for that pistol. If they find that, I’m posting it.” What makes this a real tragedy is that someone else is going to have to clean that mess up. To me, if someone wants to off themselves, that’s their business. But please, don’t do it somewhere that someone else gets stuck with the mess. That’s just inconsiderate.
Friday Mini News Dump
I hate to do this two days in a row, but with a quarterly meeting today, and a busy day yesterday, my mind is elsewhere right now:
Great moments in police gun handling. Newsflash for the anti-gunners: police are drawn from the gun culture, generally, and to the extent that they aren’t, they benefit from it. Notice all these stories come out of New York? What doesn’t New York have? Oh yeah, a legal gun culture.
Dave Hardy, who is an attorney and gun law expert, has taken a look at the background check bill, S.374, and largely verified my conclusions from earlier. Second Amendment attorney beats snarky hill staffer who showed up in the comments tell me I was crazy and paranoid.
The Wicked Witch of the West’s assault weapons ban destined for legislative limbo? Let’s hope so, but keep communicating with lawmakers.
Anti-gun protesters apparently got a bit disruptive at NRA headquarters. “Today, the NRA has demonstrated that they don’t want to listen, that they don’t want to hear from families, and that they don’t want to have a productive conversation to make America’s families safer.” I think the problem is that we have vastly different ideas about how to accomplish that. You don’t make me or anyone else safer by disarming me.
We’ve beaten them back in Washington State. This is very welcome news. Great show for those in the Evergreen State. This blue state would have been a welcome prize for Obama and Bloomberg.
Newtown parents pushing Silicon Valley to make guns safer. I hate to tell these folks, but there’s no safe gun. Guns are inherently dangerous. The way to make guns safer is to make people safer. You know who’s been doing that for years? NRA. The reason we don’t have smart guns is because no one wants them. And why would you? Guns are a lot more reliable than any electronic gadget I’ve ever used, and they need to be.
Obama is continuing to have trouble in the polls. This is great news for the Second Amendment. The more unpopular he becomes, the less pull he’s going to have convincing wavering Democrats to take the plunge and vote for gun control.
Diane Feinstein’s gun policy a product of PTSD? Certainly seems that way.
A right deserves a single, uniform standard. I agree this is a core value. To Bloomberg and his ilk: It’s worth noting that Congress has Section 5 powers under the 14th Amendment to protect fundamental constitutional rights. It’s also worth noting that gun owners are mobilized for action like I’ve never seen them. Â I’d lastly note that paybacks are hell. You started this fight. We will finish it. That’s a promise. A single uniform standard, and one I can promise you will not like.
Keeping Illinois from Becoming the Next Colorado
The fight in Illinois is really heating up, and it’s very important that everyone in Illinois, that does business or is in any way associated with the state help call lawmakers and spread the word. What’s the situation on the ground? Well, the Chicago machine wants a consolation prize if they are going to be forced to accept concealed carry. Right now that’s in the form of a magazine ban. As I mentioned yesterday, the margin for votes is really thin, so this is where the anti-gunners are going to try to hit us next, and they are twisting arms, so it is incumbent upon us to twist back. If this picks up momentum, if they get another state, it’s going to get very difficult to stop.
Emergency Action in Illinois Needed
Behind the scenes, while everyone is focusing on what’s reporting out of the Judiciary Committee in the federal Senate, things in Illinois have been heating up very quickly, and now they need to hear from gun owners there, once again.
The fight is over a magazine ban. A ten round magazine ban limit was defeated on a house floor vote by 57-59, which is a real squeaker. This bill had no grandfathering. Now the leadership are trying to come up with the votes to get it done, and it’s a very fluid situation. We need people to light em up and flood their phone banks and e-mail servers.
Thursday News Dump
Do I have enough for a news dump? I guess we’ll see. Yesterday was a club meeting, and I expected it to be a particularly contentious one. We also introduced ourselves to the leaders of a local pro-gun movement upstart here in the County on Monday, so time has been scarce. But I’ll give a news dump a good college try:
Gun Culture 2.0 is breaking out all over.
Fear of just about everything. In the taxonomy of gun control supports, you have the fearful, and the condescending. Sure, there are the concerned Americans, but they are a rarer member of the genus.
3D Printer Maker speaks at SXSW. Gun control is an obsolete concept. Clayton Cramer notes a rapidly expanding supply of STL files.
All your base…Â We are everywhere.
The AR-15 and CT gun companies.
More attacks on SAFE, and about 40 folks in Clinton County turn out to support a resolution denouncing SAFE.
The ammo shortage is not, repeat not, a conspiracy.
Obama is bringing up the armor piercing bullets canard again.
Mark Kelly tries to turn in his AR to the cops, well, how it might go if he really tried. Apparently he also does not know it’s unlawful to sell a gun to someone in another state.
We’ve here in America have eaten all the birds, and constantly drink coffee made from snow. I’m going to guess both of these are common practice in North Korea.
Utah scores dead last in Brady rankings, but how does its crime compared to California?
And don’t forget, today the Senate Judiciary Committee will be taking up the Wicked Witch of the West’s gun ban. UPDATE: The danger of posting ahead. Already reported out of Committee, though it wasn’t when I wrote this.
Feinstein’s Gun Ban On the Floor
The New York Times reports the semi-auto ban has passed out of committee on a party line vote:
“The road is uphill. I fully understand that,†said Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, the sponsor of the bill, after its passage in the committee. “My passion comes from what I’ve seen on the streets,†she said, adding, “I cannot get out of my mind trying to find the pulse in someone and putting my fingers in a bullet hole.â€
Hey, you know what millions of law abiding American gun owners did not do? Shoot Harvey Milk. Well, folks, now we have a floor fight on our hands. These are dangerous times we live in. Apparently Ted Cruz really went after Feinstein.
UPDATE: More from John Richardson, who has details on the Amendment game being played by the GOP.
Ack! Google Reader is Shutting Down
Google Reader is going away. I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of bloggers suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. Seriously, this is a big deal for bloggers. The only way I can keep up with everything is using some kind of RSS aggregator. I just don’t have the time to visit individual blogs, and Reader was a wonderful way to keep track of everything on any desktop, mobile device, tablet, etc. I’m looking for a PHP-based alternative, because I think if I migrate, I want to migrate to something I control. Years ago I used to use Bloglines, but I found Reader’s interface better and switched.
Woman Has Firearms Seized in New Jersey
I’ve seen this story about a woman having her guns seized by police popping up in a few places. New Jersey routinely abuses people’s right to keep and bear arms, and I’d be willing to give this woman the benefit of doubt. But I’d also suggest there could be more to the story than that. She’s claiming she never issued a threat, or even said the word gun at a meeting. The police say otherwise. Who’s telling the truth?
Civil Rights Victory in Washington State
Their version of the intolerable act failed to pass by several votes. Hopefully the rest of their agenda suffers the same fate, but this is quite promising. Why would Democrats want to jump on the sinking ship?