Bullets are becoming increasingly hard to come by in the United States as demand overwhelms American manufactures’ production capacity.
Retail ammunition imports aren’t sufficient to remedy the situation because of pandemic-related disruptions to international supply chains.
Townhall’s Beth Baumann reports:
All across the country, millions of Americans are on the hunt for ammunition, either for self-defense, target practice, shooting sports or hunting. Sporting goods stores and small mom and pop businesses have had to severely limit how many rounds of ammo a person can buy at one time. Some have even went so far as to limit ammo solely to those who are purchasing a new firearm because of the shortage.
Rumors have swirled through the Second Amendment community, particularly online, about Vista Outdoors, the parent company of Federal, Remington, CCI, and Speer Ammunition. Some have said that Vista Outdoors has ceased manufacturing ammo all together while others have insisted the company is picking and choosing who to sell ammo to.
Vista Outdoors’ President of Ammunition, Jason Vanderbrink, decided to address – and squash – the rumors once and for all.
“I am tired of all the hate mail. I am tired of people showing up at our factories. I’m tired of reading the misinformation out on the Internet right now about us not trying to service the demand that we’re experiencing,” Vanderbrink explained. “… After a year like right now, when we’ve hired hundreds of employees to support American manufacturing jobs, all I hear is that we’re not making ammunition.”
Vanderbrink explained his problem from a logistical perspective, reiterating that at least seven million first-time gun owners joined the ranks of Second Amendment enthusiasts in 2020.
“Seven million new shooters since March, times two boxes [50 rounds per box], which is a conservative estimate, is 700 million new rounds of ammunition our factories have to help produce,” Vanderbrink clarified. “That is impossible to do in nine months,” he added.
