Ammo Shortage Affects Police

Gun retailers are coping with an ammunition shortage and now police departments are even feeling the pinch. After the spike in gun sales, some retailers are struggling to keep up with the demand for ammunition.

Last month's school shooting in Connecticut and possible new federal firearm restrictions have caused a huge surge in gun sales. That increase has also caused a shortage in ammunition and the shortage is affecting the people in charge of protecting our communities.

Fred Bost considers shooting a hobby.

"I have an assortment of guns, I also hunt," said Fred Bost.

But lately, Bost has had a tough time tracking down certain types of ammunition.

"All the other places, no one, they're cleaned out," said Bost. "No one has ammunition. Especially 22s."

"We were selling as many guns in a day as we would sell in an entire month," said Miles Hall, Founder and President of H&H Shooting Sports Complex. 

H&H Shooting Sports Complex says its gun sales have grown tremendously since the school shooing in Newtown.

"That's when the government stepped in and immediately started talking about they're going to ban this, they're going to do away with this, and suddenly it was all the gun's fault for the acts of this evil guy," said Hall. "And once that got started, all the flow just came in and it was huge."

Miles Hall says customers are also stocking up on ammunition.

"We went through pallets of ammo, pallets of ammo," said Hall.

But Hall says people are stocking up on the same type of ammo that many police departments rely on.

"Which is why some of the departments are having some of their challenges in getting some of this," said Hall.

Hall says his store supplies ammunition to many local police departments. He says some smaller police departments in Oklahoma and across the country are struggling to keep ammo in stock.

"Most of the smaller departments won't bank up in advance long enough," said Hall.

"Knowing that you're going to have to buy far enough in advance in order to get those weapons and or ammo into your department, you have to be prepared for that," said Lt. Ron Mathews.

The Yukon Police Department says it is prepared and will not fall short.

"We know that we need to place an order 90-days-plus in advance so we'll be able to fulfill what we need," said Lt. Mathews.

"The longer this goes, the more that's going to become treacherous," said Hall.

Hall thinks this is only the beginning of the ammo shortage.

"I refer to it as having a big swimming pool that suddenly got empty," said Hall. "It's going to take a while for the garden hose to fill it back up."

Fox 25 checked with several larger police departments, like Oklahoma City, Edmond and Norman. Those departments say they're fully stocked with ammo and are not having any problems. However, a spokesperson for the Midwest City Police Department says right now it's taking longer than usual for the department to get certain types of ammunition.

MARISA MENDELSON, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER
FOX 25 NEWS
MLMENDELSON@OKCFOX.COMAmmo Shortage Affects Police

Posted: Tuesday, January 29 2013, 09:57 AM CST