Gun and Ammunition Shortages Compounded by Hunting Season

The run on guns and ammunition in the U.S. during 2020 is compounded by the fact that it is hunting season, and interest in hunting has increased.

Fox News reported that news coming out of “multiple states” indicates that “more people than usual have applied for hunting licenses, likely due to a desire to get outside after the coronavirus pandemic forced many to cancel summer plans.”

The rise in the desire to hunt translates into a more demand for guns and ammo at a time where both are becoming increasingly more difficult to find.

Breitbart News reported that September 2020 was the ninth consecutive month of record firearm background checks, i.e., National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) checks. This means that January 2020 witnessed more NICS checks than any January in history, February 2020 witnessed more NICS checks than any February, March 2020 witnessed more than any March, and so on, all the way through September.

At the same time, ammo sales have been through the roof.

On September 21, 2020, Breitbart News reported that ammunition sales surged 139 percent during the first six months of 2020.

Scarcity means that some 50-round boxes of common target ammo that were $13 a box and easy to find in December 2019 are now $40 to $55 a box and scarce. And hunters are now looking for guns and ammo to take into the field.

KXAN reports that New York state saw a surge in hunting on the first day of “licensing and permitting” in 2020. Whereas the first day brought in $300,000 in 2019, the figure taken in this year was $900,000.

Kinton Guns’ Tom Kinton, in Farmington, New York, says the surge in hunting is leading to increased demand for firearms.

The new demand comes after gun store owners have already witnessed nine months of persistent, elevated demand.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.