Ammo shortages taking a toll

The boom days of December are long gone. Ammo outages appear to be taking a heavy toll on at least some gun retailers. Russell Longcore at Dump DC took notes on a trip to a retailer in Georgia:

Walked into the indoor shooting range…not one of the lanes was being used. I’ve been in this range facility when all lanes were in use and there was a waiting list. So the store was not realizing any revenue from people practicing their shooting skills. People are not stupid. If ammo is not readily available, you don’t go to the range and shoot up a few hundred rounds…you save what you have. 

But the other thing I realized is that the blowback of the nationwide lack of ammo is that THOUSANDS of gun dealers will be forced out of business because of their lack of cash flow.

His assessment is similar to what I noted last month:

Big box stores have other products to cover their bottom line. Many independent sellers of guns and ammo, both brick and mortar and online sellers, don't. For them, the exhilaration of December sales has long ago faded. Empty shelves and out of stock notices tell me they're facing hard times if supply doesn't catch up soon.

Large amounts of supply are still moving to retailers, but what's not clear is how those supplies are being allocated. And restocked ammo often sells out within minutes of arrival. It's hard to make a sale on a gun if you can't sell a box or two of ammo to go with it.

It's ironic that overwhelming demand for guns and ammo may actually result in putting some retailers in the biz out of business if supply and demand don't reach some sort of equilibrium soon.