BARRE, Vt. -
Gun ammunition is running scarce throughout the country and in some places impossible to find. The ammunition shelves at R&L archery are bare, not empty but bare.
"That shelf used to be stacked to the top with .22 ammo and now it's pretty empty," said R&L Archery Manager, Jon Sanborn.
He says this national problem is affecting his business, "The distributors are out, the manufacturers are out and I'm running short of a lot of things."
And it's specific ammunition that is particularly scarce, "9 mm ammo, doesn't exist in the world right now," said Sanborn.
With the .22 caliber fast on its heels, Sanborn says it's all consumer demand. He noticed people used to buy just a box of ammunition but now, "They're buying a case at a time, because they are afraid it's going to go away or they will run out and they won't be able to get it. Who knows what they are afraid of," said Sanborn.
It's such a widespread problem that Sanborn has customers coming from neighboring states to find the product, "I have people coming from New York, looking for primers and powders just because they can't find it anywhere between here and there."
Why the hype and high demand? Sanborn says it's just that; hype, "We are doing this to ourselves, our own paranoia and fears are causing us to buy, buy, buy."
And it doesn't look like the shortage is going to let up in the immediate future.
"Most of the industry is predicting somewhere between six and nine months before those orders come in," said Sanborn.
He also noticed a shortage back in 2008, after President Obama was first elected.
