People on both sides of the gun debate are pretty fired up at this point. This is being written as a fact based informational post rather than an opinion post.
So where are we at with guns today? We can see manufacturers notes here.
1. Smith & Wesson is running at full capacity making 300+ guns/day-mainly M&P pistols. They are unable to produce any more guns to help with the shortages. Most stores are currently out of stock on semi-automatic pistols.
2. RUGER: Plans to increase from 75% to 100% in the next 90 days.
3. FNH: Moving from 50% production to 75% by Feb 1st and 100% by March 1.
4. Remington-Maxed out!
5. Armalite: Maxed out.
6. DPMS: Can't get enough parts to produce any more product.
7. COLT: Production runs increasing weekly...bottle necked by Bolt carrier's.
8. LWRC:Making only black guns, running at full capacity...can't get enough gun quality steel to make barrels.
9. Springfield Armory: Only company who can meet demand but are running 30-45 days behind.
10. AMMO: Every caliber is now Allocated! We are looking at a nation wide shortage of all calibers over the next 9 months. All plants are producing as much ammo as possible w/ of 1 BILLION rounds produced weekly. Most is military followed by L.E. and civilians are third in line.
11. MAGPUL is behind 1 MILLION mags, do not expect any large quantities of magpul anytime soon. These are for standard capacity magazines (30 Rounds = Standard Capacity)
12. RELOADERS... ALL Remington, Winchester, CCI & Federal primers are going to ammo FIRST. There are no extra's for reloading purposes... it could be 6-9 months before things get caught up.
"They didn’t know when they’d be getting anything back in stock, from magazines to rifles to pistols. Manufacturers were running full-bore, but couldn’t come close to keeping up with market demand. It wasn’t just the AR-15s, the AK-pattern rifles, the M1As, and the FALs that were sold out. It really hit me when I realized that the World War-era M1 Garands, M1 carbines, and Enfield .303s were gone, along with every last shell. Ubiquitous Mosin-Nagants—of which every gun store always seems to have 10-20—were gone. So was their ammo. Only a dust free space marked their passing. I’ve never seen anything like it." - Firearms dealer at a dealership convention trying to purchase more stock for his store.
13. Over 10,800,000 guns sold in the united states in 2011 alone
14. Over 50,000,000 guns sold since Obama first took office.
15. Numbers are not out yet, but December, January, and February are poised to shatter gun sales records.
If America was not well armed before, it certainly is now. I know I have been having issues obtaining ammunition myself. I always order in bulk because I can blow 300-500 rounds at the range in day. Those of us who have 20,000 rounds boxed away who purchased in bulk or who reload our own bullets as a hobby are set. Everyone else is paying four times more today for a box of ammo (If they can even find it) than they were just 3 months ago. In a sense, perhaps this is the gun control so many people wanted. Now you can't even buy ammo for your weapon. Most of the ammo as far as I can tell has been purchased up by those gun owners who buy in bulk and order 10,000 rounds at a time. The shooting range explosion indicates that people are shooting their ammo faster than it can be produced. This is driving a severe ammo shortage. No ammo, no shooting. Perhaps less crime as the criminal element will be unable to obtain ammunition to feed their weapons. We will see. Staggering numbers to be sure. It would seem that everyone wants to purchase standard capacity magazines (30 rounds) and weapons before they are banned. High capacity magazines (75-150 rounds) are also sold out.