Wallmart ammunition shortage

[Superbee]

I've been hitting the Wally Worlds in Manteca and Turlock and I'm finding lots of vacant shelves with very little ammo on the shelf.
Manteca had some, 4 cartons of 22LR some CCI's 22cal rds, 6 boxes 40cal, 1 box 380, rifle ammo was 4bxs of 300 WSM and some other
caliber.
Turlock they had 6 cartons of Win 22LR, 2 50rd box of 223 and 12 boxes of 40cal. I talked with the manager and he got a email stating that they are trying to get more ammo and the ammo comp is working trying to keep up the demend. In this email it talks about ammo prices going whay higher then they are now. Nice guy he ask what I wanted an said if it comes in he'll save some for me, Fairly nice guy that knows I'm stocking up, I only bought 4cartons so just 2000rds

[Admin]

I've been reading about this, but mine seems to always have ammo. Maybe it's because it's 10 miles form the Walmart Distribution center 

[Bigchoad]

Milpitas and Gilroy stores are stripped. Just a few boxes of this n that but not 45ACP, 9mm or 22lr bulk packs
The local gun stores aren't doing much better--Big gaps on their shelves.

Common ammo calibers are getting very scarce.

[DesertDawg]

I've heard two fairly "reasonable" ideas about why ammo has become scarce.  The first sounds like it is the most credible:

1:  The prices are going to go sky-high when the ammo manufacturers start shipping again. In essence, they have created a subterfuge, in the way of the holding back shipments, so that when they finally start shipping, we will pay ANY price they ask.

2:  No shipments of ammo due to government intervention.  The Democrat-controlled houses of congress and the new President are going to spring a "surprise" on us, in the way of an outlandish, extremely high tax on ammo.

Actually, #2 just might not be that far-fetched!  You have to think back to the several states that have tried to increase state taxes on ammo in the past (all have failed, I believe).  Then, consider the "rumor" that the deceased U.S. Senator, Patrick Moynihan, authored a legislative bill that would have imposed a 10,000% increase in the federal taxes on ammo (It's not a rumor that Moynihan wrote the bill, for he said that he did....but didn't submit it because it was "the wrong time to do so". The "rumor" aspect of it is that, before his death, Moynihan gave that bill to then-First Lady Hillary Clinton, who said that she WOULD introduce the bill "at the right time".)(Add to this, the fact that our new President has been the "Best gun salesman" of all time.  I'm sure that the anti-gun folks in Washington, D.C. are keeping up with the numbers....and probably believe that the increased gun sales is yet another "crisis").

Either way, it looks like ammo prices are going to be sky-high when the shipments start up again!

[musician]

I might be wrong....but I believe the NRA went to bat for us and it was deemed UNCONSTITUTIONAL to tax the ammo and the guns at 500% like Obama wanted..


GO NRA!!!!! HOORAH!!!!

[SgtBooker44]

Some of the Sacramento Wally Worlds dont stock ammo, never have. 

I've been reloader for 30 years, shoot 1, but reload 2.

[Superbee]

I'm the same way, I started with a lee loader for a 44 S&W and now reload for all my calibers and the 12gauge. We're original recyclers

[BillCA]

For whatever reason we are seeing some ammo show up on shelves.  It's slowly becoming available again.  Metal prices have dropped significantly, though there is a rumor that China may buy up as much copper as they can as a monetary backing (like we used to use gold).  Copper makes sense. It's used in wiring of all kinds, electronics, in plating, in ammo, in making other alloys, etc.

With that aside, it may also have been a tax issue. Gun and ammo makers pay a federal excise tax.  Not sure about ammo makers, but gun companies had to pay is twice a month instead of monthly. A recent meeting in D.C. aired this to Congress members, explaining that the bi-monthly scheme required extra cash to pay the taxes and asking for the tax to be quarterly like other excise taxes. 

As to a huge tax increase on ammo... It is very unlikely. 
A parallel case was that state in the mid-east (ohio?) passed a tax on newsprint that was at the same rate as the general sales tax.  Newspapers sued and won in the Supreme Court.  The court held that "freedom of the press" was a right and rights may not be taxed.  While a general sales tax could include printing presses, laser printers, etc, such a tax is equitable because it is the same for all purchases.  But taxing newsprint paper (and/or ink), even at the same rate as the sales tax, is unconstitutional.  For without paper or ink, there is no press. And despite legislative promises, a separate tax means increases could be focused on suppressing a free press or free speech. 

Thus, Moynihan's idea is unconstitutional. The only way to legally raise that tax would be to raise a sales tax to 10,000% ... but legislators would be hanging from lamp posts if that happened. 

Note: The 2nd Amendment is the only amendment that guarantees you the right to own any object. You can own property but you aren't guaranteed a right to build on it.  But the 2A says you may keep & bear "arms", which includes firearms, of course.  Ownership of arms was deemed to be crucial enough that the 1782 milita act excluded firearms from such things as suits-at-law and bankruptcy.  Thus it could be argued that even a generally applied sales-tax might be unconstitutional, as well as excise taxes levied specifically against gun makers.