National ammunition shortage could be affecting police training

In a continued sweep across the nation, the demand for ammunition is becoming greater with backlogs of up to half a year. However, this could impact the training of law enforcement as supply becomes less available and more costly.

Whether you agree with gun ownership or not, across the nation, Americans own guns for reasons such as hunting on their own private land, target practice, home safety and for some, a side-arm as part of having a federal license to carry. In Georgia and other parts of the country, however, finding the ammo to render one's weapon effective seems to be a little more challenging these days. A combination of factors including fear in changes in gun laws by the current administration, the crippling economy, a boost in the numbers of armed police and the war in Iraq and Afghanistan may be contributing to what is becoming a nationwide shortage for some calibers. A shortage that could soon be affecting police across the United States. A company in Georgia called Georgia Arms said they had a "backlog" on its bullets, according to a local Georgia Fox news report. The demand is up for this company who usually reloads and sells about two million spent rounds each week, with the owner of the company stating "If I didn't have another order beyond today, it would take me six months to catch up." Ongoing training with real ammo is essential to helping law enforcement perfect their skills with weapons and because they use reloaded ammunition during training, the shortage has caused some problems for them as well. With the demand so high, the costs associated with reloaded ammo have also gone up. Area police and sheriff's departments realize that it may be an issue in the future, however some have already stockpiled their ammunition needs so they haven't yet felt the shortage. But others are concerned:

Commanders at the Douglas County Sheriff's Department said they use as much as 200,000 rounds of ammunition every year, but because of supply and budget concerns they've cut that in half and now train only twice a year.

Even in other states, the demand for semi-automatic weapons, reloading machines and ammunition was reported as being so high that manufacturing companies could simply not meet the demands, even forcing some places to set limits or ration sales on items. Pistols and semi-automatic rifles continue to sell at rapid pace according to a Connecticut based organization called National Shooting Sports Foundation that represents firearms and ammunition manufacturers and gun shops. Places like Midsouth Shooters Supply in Tennessee, which operates on mail-order for ammunition and reloading components are seeing order after order for what use to be seen as more of a hobby. Orders than aren't getting filled and cannot expect an estimated date of delivery or wait time. Cartridges for common weapons such as the .22 Caliber hunting and target weapons as well as those implemented during the Clinton-era ban are all said to be seeing a major shortage. In Wyoming, a gun shop co-owner cannot keep her shelves stocked with semi-autos. When ammunition and gun companies across the country are making the following statement, it must be bad:

"You know there's something wrong when I've got little old ladies coming in buying 5,000 rounds of .22 shells"