By Glen Wunderlich
Charter Member Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA)
Afghanistan, Covid, border chaos, violent rioting, pain at the pumps, inflation, national debt, lockdowns, natural disasters, government mandates, unemployment, and empty store shelves are all headline-grabbing issues that are altering our lifestyle behaviors. Yet, life goes on. Is it any wonder that people are enjoying the freedom offered by our great outdoors like never before?
As Americans rediscover their roots among the solitude of our natural resources, many have learned that campgrounds are filled and motels are booked up months in advance. Abnormality is the norm. Who would ever have thought people would stock more toilet paper in their homes than the local cheap mart?
With Michigan’s hunting season upon us, a continuing dilemma faces those that want to get away from it all: ammo shortages. Yes, there is hoarding – some of it for profiteering and some of it evolves from fear of future shortages, which fosters self-fulfilling prophecies.
More and more people are entering the firearms market daily. The National Shooting Sports Foundation® (NSSF®), the firearm industry trade association, surveyed firearm retailers recently, and estimates that over 3.2 million people purchased firearms for the first time during the first half of 2021.
The survey was conducted to learn the buying habits and factors of this year’s firearm purchasers during the first six months of 2021. Respondents indicated that 33.2 percent of customers, or 3,247,351, purchased firearms for the first time, based on June’s total of nearly 9.8 million background checks for gun sales. The more politicians scare the public with gun-control rhetoric, the more they get what they don’t purport to want. People aren’t buying the sermons, either; they’re buying guns.
With that said, we are getting a basic lesson in economics – one that I learned in high school. “This survey shows that there is a continuing demand signal for firearms from the American public,” said Joe Bartozzi, NSSF President and CEO. “We witnessed each month background check figures associated with gun sales that are second only to those we saw in last year’s record-breaking totals. These survey results show not only is there a strong and healthy appetite from first-time gun buyers but that there is still room to grow.”
When we do find some ammo available, it comes with sticker shock. At a recent flea market, I came upon a vendor selling ammunition. He had a variety of calibers on his tables apparently taken from his personal stash and one familiar brick of .22 rimfire was among his offerings. The price was a whopping $100. Even I was startled, knowing full well the Remington Thunderbolt .22s are low-quality, mass-production fodder that typically has sold for about $20 in recent past. Step right up!
To be fair, the same ammo was being sold at Williams Gun Sight last week for a mere $43/brick with a two-box limit. Right there on the showroom floor was a pallet of the plinking ammo sure to be gobbled up at an exorbitant rate nobody would have paid a few short years ago. MidwayUSA.com is getting a variety of ammo in stock now, too. First, you may want to check the market price of gold, because it may be less per ounce.
With law enforcement budgets being cut indiscriminately and violent rioting in America’s cities making headlines, Americans’ demand for self-protection continues to soar with no end in sight.
As for me, I’ll be heading afield on Wednesday’s opening day of small game season with an old Mossberg rimfire rifle in search of bushytails. There’s no better reason to break into that squirreled-away stash of Lapua Center X rimfire ammo. If the Lone Ranger can shoot silver bullets, I can shoot some worth their weight in gold.
