BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (WMBD) — An ammunition shortage is continuing across the country more than a year after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic spiked demand.
Experts have said a limited supply became worse with the 2020 George Floyd/Black Lives Matter protests as well as the bankruptcy of gun company Remington.
Ron Darnall said the demand is still high for all types of ammunition including handguns, shotguns and rifles.
Darnall said it’s been like this for more than a year at many gun stores in the area.
“It’s making it a little tough because people want to come out and enjoy a sport and shoot, have fun, slam steel and they come out and fire a few rounds, but they wont spend much time out there because they’re keeping a little bit around for their own use,” Darnall said.
Darnall said there’s high demand for guns and ammunition as well, but a lot of shops in the area can’t supply it. He hopes it changes soon.
“My opinion is right now, we’re about three to four months out from getting things back to maybe somewhat normal. But it’s not going to be as normal as in the past. We’re noticing this economy is causing our prices to go up,” Darnall said.
The shortage doesn’t just affect the gun stores and wholesalers. Police departments are also being affected negatively.
Assistant Police Chief Chad Wamsley said the department goes through a lot of ammunition yearly.
“We’ll go through on average for a department of our size probably 70-75,000 rounds of ammo and that’s for our range training, that’s for our SWAT team doing their trainings,” Wamsley said.
Wamsley said the department is still waiting on an order placed on 9mm ammo for the new guns approved for purchase at Monday night’s city council meeting.
“We had ordered roughly 110,000 rounds of ammo, the 9mm ammo, in January. Initially, we were told it was a six-month wait, now we’re being told it could be up to a year wait,” Wamsley said.
Wamsley said he hopes the ammunition arrives by the fall in order to have a smooth transition.
