The NRA Reveals Who’s to Blame for Ammo Shortage: You
What? Basic free market principles at work? How can this be?
Conspiracy theorists will dispute this simple explanation, no doubt. But it jibes with what manufacturers of ammunition are saying. ATK (NYSE: ATK ) subsidiary Federal Cartridge, for example, has a statement on its website advising, “We are currently experiencing high demand for our products.” In an interview with American Rifleman, Federal confirmed, too, that “the current increase in demand,” (and by implication, the increase in prices) “is attributed to the civilian market” (this means you).
Olin’s (NYSE: OLN ) Winchester Ammunition said on its website it is also “experiencing an extremely high demand.” And privately held Freedom Group, which manufactures Remington cartridges, said “it’s clear to us that any lack of supply in the marketplace has been from consumer demand.”
Probably the clearest explanation of what’s going on, though, comes from privately held Hornady Manufacturing, where President Steve Hornady painted this picture: “People walk into the store, they don’t see as much as they want so they take everything they can get. The next guy who comes in can’t get anything, so he panics.”
Note that at no point does price even become a consideration here. And if price is no object — then yes, of course, these companies are going to raise prices to maximize profits.
Obviously this means the NRA is just covering for the Obama Administration.
