Originally Posted By: whip
Merkava_4,
If the Government is buying up all of the ammo and is responsible for the shortage, can you explain why ammo was available before 12-14-12? Were they not buying previous to that date? Ammo around here was plentiful and inexpensive before that. It's been hard to find, and expensive since. I wonder why that is? Oddly enough, magazines have been scarce since then too. Did they sign a contract for 1 billion magazines also?
Also, the NRA has debunked all of the "The DHS is hoarding ammo" conspiracies.
For those who don't know:
http://www.nraila.org/254512
"Other rumors concern acquisitions of ammunition by the Department of Homeland Security and a number of smaller agencies. Much of this concern stems from a misunderstanding of the size of the U.S. ammunition market. While the amount of ammunition some agencies have sought to buy seems impressive at a glance, it's far less so when spread out over a multi-year contract and over the tens of thousands of armed federal agents who engage in regular firearm training and qualification. And even if federal agencies bought all of the ammunition for which they've recently solicited proposals, it would
still amount to only about three percent of total domestic ammunition production."
And the first one:
http://www.nraila.org/news-issues/articles/2012/federal-law-enforcement-agencies-buy-ammunition.aspx
If you take the number of agencies that will be using this ammunition – CBP, Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), ICE, the U.S. Secret Service, Transportation Security Administration, the DHS police force, and all the guards that protect the various buildings these agencies are housed in, and spread that out over 5 years, you start to see that 450 million rounds really isn't that large of an order. Especially considering it is used for training purposes like firing range and live fire exercises, on-the-job use (though that is very limited), and to shore up their supplies. In fact, there are 65,000 – 70,000 law enforcement personnel at DHS who would be covered under this … ammunition contract. If DHS were to purchase all 450 million rounds over 5 years, then that would equate to only about 1,384 rounds of ammo per year per law enforcement [officer] … assuming the lower estimate of only 65,000 law enforcement personnel at DHS. Considering those agents go through training exercises several times per year, that is not a lot of ammunition.