Dealers Experience Gun, Ammo Shortage
A pandemic that slowed firearm and ammunition production, coupled with riots across the nation that spiked demand, has left some local gun store owners struggling to keep their shelves stocked.
“This is a multi-headed monster,” Trader Bill’s Materials Manager Philip Kastner said.
“As far as the ammo is concerned, the number one thing you have to have in order to make ammunition is raw materials, being lead and copper,” Kastner said. “So all of the lead mines in the United States are in the state of Missouri; Missouri shut them down the first of March. All of the copper mines are in South America; South America shut them down in April. … The lead mines are now open in Missouri, but getting copper for the casings is one of the choking points.”
Lack of available ammunition due to the pandemic is just part of the problem, he said.
“The other problem is what happened a month ago with the riots,” Kastner said. “COVID hurt the production side of the equation, but the riots spiked the demand side of the equation. So not only are you getting few products into the system, you have a huge demand on the retail side of the equation of people wanting to buy guns and ammunition to protect their houses and homes from rioting. Even though we don’t have that problem in the state of Arkansas, you do have that problem everywhere else. And it has exhausted the pipeline of materials that is coming through.”
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