About That Government Ammo Purchasing ...

Charles C.W. Cooke has a good piece over at NRO on the ammo purchases.

It’s all about scale. Forty-six thousand rounds also sound like a lot for the National Weather Service. (Actually, the ammo was requested by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement, which is overseen by the same department.) In reality, it’s not that much. The service has only 63 armed personnel, which brings the purchase out at around 730 rounds per officer. This, suffice it to say, does not present a great threat to the Republic. As the NRA has noted, “more than a few NRA members would use that much ammunition in a weekend shooting class or plinking session.” There are enough risks to the right to bear arms and to American liberty in general, the NRA continued, without “inventing threats.”

On a related note, one thing I've found amazing in recent months is that what you'd have to think what was only a slight uptick in demand after the election translated into essentially a run on the bank as far as ammo's concerned.

Between the government purchase stories that circulate around and the actual gun control mania that ensued after Sandy Hook, it's been really eye-opening as to how thin the ammo supply chain really is.

I've had a policy in place for years now that basically is "never pass up a chance to buy ammo" ... meaning that I never leave the gun store empty handed, even if it's only a couple of boxes of .45 or something. Over time, this really adds up when you look at the ol' ammo cabinet, and it's also nice being an ant to all the panic-buying grasshoppers.

When things return to normal, as they hopefully will and soon, you might want to think about doing the same.

(open thread in the comments - I just wanted to throw up a new one to cut down on the scrolling)

posted by Andy at 03:17 PM

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