Marty Korecky likes to target shoot fairly regularly, but lately he's been cutting back.
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A Shillington resident, Korecky is worried that if he uses up his ammunition, he'll have a really hard time getting more.
And he has reason to be concerned.
Demand for ammo — particularly for handguns and rifles — is so strong that retailers can barely keep it in stock, and some are even resorting to rationing. Prices are skyrocketing, too.
The start of the shortage can be traced back a few years, when military demand for ammunition was very high because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But the election of President Barack Obama has apparently worsened the situation, with fear spreading among firearms owners that his administration will pursue gun control measures, including a new ban on assault rifles. Post-election gun sales also are booming for that reason.
The ammo pinch is affecting some police departments as well, creating longer delays for orders to be filled.
John Radzik, owner of Gun Dealer Online LLC, a Lancaster County-based online retailer that sells firearms and ammunition, said the ammo shortage "is definitely turning into a major problem."
Certain calibers are especially affected, including .45 and .380, "which are pretty much nonexistent," he said. Ammunition for AK-47 and AR-15 assault rifles has been affected, too, Radzik said.
And when a run starts, "it just turns into hoarding," he said.
Gun Dealer Online has begun rationing ammo, Radzik said. "We want to be as fair and equitable as possible."
Bob Evans, manager of Trop Gun Shop in Elizabethtown, said people are indeed starting to hoard ammo, which is exacerbating the shortage.
"They were buying tons of it," he said, which caused Trop to place restrictions on how much individuals could purchase of certain calibers, such as .380.
Manufacturers also have been caught off-guard, Evans said.
The .380 ammo has been the most difficult to keep in stock, he said, because "it was never abundantly made."
And manufacturers have produced new kinds of guns that handle .380, so it's even more in demand, Evans said.
Jason Bristow, a Christiana resident, describes himself as a sportsman/hunter.
"The higher-caliber ammunition — you can't get it all or it's on back order," he said.
For example, .308-caliber rifle ammo, which he uses, is now in short supply, Bristow said, which was never the case before.
Korecky said he noticed ammunition started to become scarce in the fourth quarter of last year, around the time of the election.
And that, in turn, prompted even more gun owners to act, Korecky said. Their thinking was, "I'd better buy it now or I'm not going to have the chance," he said.
"A lot of shelves are bare," Korecky said.
Black powder and lead for bullets also are hard to come by, he said.
"I've heard some ammo makers are trying to keep up with demand" by working 24 hours a day, seven days a week and by adding new equipment, Korecky said.
Shotgun ammunition still seems to be abundant, he said, while that for handguns and rifles is the most difficult to find.
An employee of The Village Arms, Gap, who didn't want to be identified, said the store has been experiencing a shortage of handgun and rifle ammo, although it has more in stock than many other places.
When customers come in, the employee said, they're pleasantly surprised to find what they want is actually available.
At this point, Village Arms hasn't had to resort to rationing. "We do not limit what people can buy," the employee said. "If we have it, we sell it."
Still, a lot of ammo is on back order, and the dearth of supply "is more than a little frustrating" to retailers and gun owners, the employee said.
P.J. Reilly, Outdoors writer for the Sunday News, said hunting ammo is not generally affected.
Reilly, who hunts, said he's had no problem getting 7 mm and .280-caliber cartridges, for example.
Prices also are rising fast.
A few years ago, Jason Bristow said, a box of 20 .410-gauge shells would go for about $6.
"Now it's like $16," he said. "I couldn't believe it."
Radzik, of Gun Dealer Online, said he's trying to keep prices reasonable. But he said he's heard of retailers selling a box of 9 mm ammunition, which averages $10, for as much as $60.
Election a catalystThe ammo shortage goes hand-in-hand with skyrocketing gun sales. Since the November election, the FBI has received more than 8 million requests for background checks, a requirement to buy a gun in most states. That total is up 40 percent from a year earlier. And in Lancaster County, applications for concealed weapons permits have jumped (see related story).
Bristow, a member of the National Rifle Association, said what he's heard from fellow gun owners is that there's "a general fear out there."
Even if the Obama administration doesn't seek tighter gun control, there are still worries that limits could be placed on ammunition, which is essentially a form of gun control, he said.
"Nobody knows what's going to happen," Bristow said.
The election of Obama spurred the run on ammo, Radzik said, but the issue didn't become acute until the past 90 days or so.
He said there's been talk at the federal level of putting serial numbers on ammunition, which supporters say would assist investigators in solving crimes. But Radzik said such a move would cause the cost of ammo to soar, and fear of serialization could be driving people to stock up.
They also may be reacting to recent comments by Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, Radzik said, who wants to pass statewide gun control legislation and has called on Congress to restore the federal ban on assault weapons.
Rendell's efforts, however, face strong opposition in the GOP-controlled state Senate. Also, it's doubtful there's enough support in the U.S. Congress — even with the Democrats possessing a healthy majority — to bring back the assault weapons ban.
In April, David Axelrod, a senior adviser to Obama, said the administration hadn't committed to making the ban a legislative priority, given the many other challenges the president faces.
An additional consequence of the ammo shortage is the effect on law enforcement.
Sgt. Chris Laser, who's in charge of training for the Lancaster Bureau of Police, said it takes longer to get ammunition than before, although the delays began when the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were at their apex.
But now the wait has been extended. "It's a matter of planning," Laser said. "I need to look and realize what our order is going to be for next year."
So that's not a huge concern, he said. "Our biggest problem is that prices continue to go up."
But Sgt. Thomas Rudzinski, of Manheim Township Police Department, said, "We've had no issue with the ammunition shortage whatsoever."
State Rep. Bryan Cutler, R-100th District, said the ammo situation "really is not that surprising," considering the country is fighting two wars.
"The civilian market is competing with the military," he said.
But Cutler, who opposes gun control, agreed that the election of Obama is also playing a role. The ammunition shortage "could be a summation" of several factors, he said.
As for Rendell's talk of passing gun-control legislation, Cutler said that's nothing new.
But defenders of the Second Amendment, which protects the right to bear arms, must be vigilant, he said.
Cutler noted that the Department of Defense, under the new administration, instituted a policy change that cut off some ammunition manufacturers from their largest supply of brass casings. But that decision was reversed a week later after opposition from U.S. senators and others.
"I don't trust Obama on the Second Amendment," Cutler said, "any more than I trust Gov. Rendell."
Paula Wolf is a staff writer for the Sunday News. She can be reached by e-mail at pwolf@lnpnews.com.
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