Ammo rationing at Wal-Mart as panic buying sweeps US

[dalek sec]

It's mostly stupid southerns and mid-westerns freaking out, god I hate my country some days.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

There's this thing called the 2nd Amendment in the US. The problem is, when it was written, guns could shoot maybe twice a minute at most (more, maybe, I wouldn't know). Now, guns can unload enough the bring down an elephant in that time. Some weapons need to be banned, but its ok for people to have smaller weapons.

Keep saying that when the government decides it's time to stop holding elections.

Yes. Because something you bought at WallMart is going to stop an M-1 tank.


Actually, I'm pretty sure once you shot the Pintle .50 gunner off, you could pretty much muller an M1 with grenades and molotovs. But, seriously, if you're government goes batshit, there's an effortless way to get guns.

We call it Russia.

 

[Kwaren]

Pfft, all real gun-nuts have enough ammo to supply the state of Wyoming. These people are wannabes.

I take offence. I have enough rounds for a .44 to supply Half of New York.

You must have a lot of ammo. 532,668 people in the state as of 2009 and 59.7% are registered gun owners . I'll take a case of .223, .50AE, 9mm, and 50BMG.

 

[iblis666]

This is nothing. You should have sen the panic that ensued during the Tickle Me Elmo shortage of 1996. Try to imagine about 500 thousand overweight soccer moms waddling their fat asses across the malls of America. Remember the dinosaur stampede from King Kong? It was kind of like that but with more obesity.

oh god the flashbacks i once saw the last elmo in a store torn limb from limb the women were likezombies fighting over a kill its a sight i never want to see again

 

[masher]

I hope this plunges back into using Melee Weapons.

ooh yeah...I'd pick a Crowbar!

 

[quiet_samurai]

Apparently, classic .45 ACP pistol ammunition is especially scarce - a fairly good indication that it is in fact conservative Middle America rather than, say, inner-city criminals buying up all the ammo*.

Why?

That part got cut off, but following the link gets you

Bootnote

*Most kinds of .45 have unexceptional muzzle energy and are big and fat, giving fairly poor performance even against light, flexible body armour. It was the standard US military pistol round for a long time and many diehards still swear by it, but people who carry guns for a living - cops, soldiers, criminals - are mostly using other calibres these days. (Some spec-ops troops still use .45, as the bullet is subsonic and thus can be effectively silenced.)

Which still doesn't strike me as much of a rationale for that assumption. All it is a little more detail on the .45 round.

Cost, .45 rounds are much more expensive and aren't as common compared to other forms of ammo. Like 9mm ammo, it's extremely cheap as far as ammo goes and can be found in mass quantities at any gunstore. Which is also why the 9mm is the preferred choice of side arm for a lot of law enforcement and military.

Like the article said, for todays day and age the .45 isn't ass efficient and is kind of out dated. It's just that gun nuts get all turned on by the prospect of a 45, and most gun nuts tend to live out side of major cities.

 

[Treblaine]

Spoiler

That is assuming this is a response to his gun policy, which I don't know for certain.

Of course, some people argue that it can hardly be denied that his Gun policy has made some people very anxious about their rights to own guns, and that as a result of this they've been buying more guns since it's much harder for the state to take away your guns before they are your property.

But hay--I'm British so I a) don't know a lot about this, and b) can't say it effects me that much anyway. So don't take my word for it.

He as two choices, ban nukes worldwide or ban guns in America... he can't have both, even he, Mr Super-President doesn't have that much political capital.

Seen the UN meeting recently, the "big 5" are seriously considering global nuclear disarmament.

 

[ygetoff]

At least background checks are up.

This "government conspiracy" theory is just a clever cover-up by the gun owners, who are ACTUALLY preparing in secret for the coming zombie apocalypse. Think. Why they buy .45 rounds for defense against a body-armored government force? They know that .45 rounds are more easily suppressed, making it easier to escape zombies! Plus there's the possibility of ammo sharing with their anti-zombie carbine (recommended by the Zombie Survival Guide). I wouldn't be surprised if manufacturers suddenly start receiving orders for katanas and crowbars (possibly also trench spike-style weapons). This also explains why cops were having trouble getting assault rifle ammo, because the military was stocking up to better deal with the zombies.

 

[Smack-Ferret]

Well, if there is some kind of ban on guns, that won't help the economy. To many factories will be shut down!

Oh this reminds me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPvip-XSJKg

God I love Whitest Kids U' Know.





Raping your churches! Burning your women!

 

[park92]

Dont shoot too much that is all

 

[Kaboose the Moose]

It's actually understandable.
if you look throughout history, dictatorship starts when the people cant defend themselves.

but who the hell buys ammo at wall mart?
Last I checked they didnt carry Banana mags

And the right to bear arms isn't for hunting, it was created for protection, much less personal protection, but more protection against an unjust government.

Like I said, I understand the second amendment and why it's in place in the US, but what I fail to understand is why there is a panic about an ammo shortage concerning civilian use. It's not like every single person in the US is engaging in daily death matches are they?. Where is the demand coming from to entice a panic from a supply shortage?.

"dictatorship starts when the people cant defend themselves". - When a panic ensues because people can't buy ammunition for home-owned guns then I think it's best to wonder what people really want to defend themselves from?.

When I said hunting, I was not implying that it is made possible because of the second amendment. Rather I was wondering, once again, what possible activities could cause such an alarming rate of ammunition consumption to have people in a buying sweep.

It's hardly a panic.
people are worried as they see their rights constantly, slowly, but constantly going down the drain.

I know for a fact you can fire well over a thousand rounds in a single outing.

Hell, me and my buddies fired off 200 bucks worth of ammunition in 2 hours.
Its a hobby, and its a skill everyone should have.

At this point we should agree to disagree.

Judging from the reports made by the AP about this issue, the source article itself and the people who are rushing to buy the reserves while others yell "Obama effect", it just seems that the symptoms of panic are well in place. If this was organized calm, Walmart of all places wouldn't have placed an ammo rationing order. Furthermore, (I may have misinterpreted, I am not sure) but I don't see how the people's rights are slowly going down the drain.

So far, the new administration nor Congress has not been markedly antigun. Obama has said he respects Second Amendment rights, but favors "common sense" on gun laws. Still, worries about what could happen persist. -AP

All that I see is a shortage of ammunition; it could be a stringent method to control gun ownership or an actual shortage of ammunition due to increase in gun sales (there was a 25.6 percent increase in gun sales from the January to May period) . At any rate, I am not seeing how the people's rights are going down the drain. There is no outright ban or suppression of the second amendment, just the usual supply and demand issue.

As for firing over a thousand rounds during (presumably a hunting) outing, then surely, if that is the average rate of ammo consumption then there would be means made available by suppliers to accommodate for such heavy usage during the hunting season. I doubt ammunition manufactures are going to be thick throughout the peak business periods. So I doubt that there should be anything to worry about.

 

[Mcface]

It's actually understandable.
if you look throughout history, dictatorship starts when the people cant defend themselves.

but who the hell buys ammo at wall mart?
Last I checked they didnt carry Banana mags

And the right to bear arms isn't for hunting, it was created for protection, much less personal protection, but more protection against an unjust government.

Like I said, I understand the second amendment and why it's in place in the US, but what I fail to understand is why there is a panic about an ammo shortage concerning civilian use. It's not like every single person in the US is engaging in daily death matches are they?. Where is the demand coming from to entice a panic from a supply shortage?.

"dictatorship starts when the people cant defend themselves". - When a panic ensues because people can't buy ammunition for home-owned guns then I think it's best to wonder what people really want to defend themselves from?.

When I said hunting, I was not implying that it is made possible because of the second amendment. Rather I was wondering, once again, what possible activities could cause such an alarming rate of ammunition consumption to have people in a buying sweep.

It's hardly a panic.
people are worried as they see their rights constantly, slowly, but constantly going down the drain.

I know for a fact you can fire well over a thousand rounds in a single outing.

Hell, me and my buddies fired off 200 bucks worth of ammunition in 2 hours.
Its a hobby, and its a skill everyone should have.

At this point we should agree to disagree.

Judging from the reports made by the AP about this issue, the source article itself and the people who are rushing to buy the reserves while others yell "Obama effect", it just seems that the symptoms of panic are well in place. If this was organized calm, Walmart of all places wouldn't have placed an ammo rationing order. Furthermore, (I may have misinterpreted, I am not sure) but I don't see how the people's rights are slowly going down the drain.

You also have to realize, its the WAL-MART shoppers.
they aren't exactly model citizens, gun owners..or any kind of model at all.
People like myself who own weapons, buy ammunition and shoot for recreation (No, I don't hunt) aren't going crazy, and its the majority of us who are seen as gun totting hillbilly's and cowboy wannabes because of a very, very small minority who do actually act like that.

As for stockpiling ammo, its not a very strange thing to do.
If its going to become harder and harder to find (it was a few months ago, its currently much better) then your going to want to have yourself prepared.

 

[Macaco]

If I'm not mistaken, after the government required all you brits to keep all your weapons in an armory, they destroyed em', i think the idea here, is that everyone who's heard of that little bit of trickery is stocking up because they expect something similar to happen.

As an American, it kind of worries me that the government over here is getting enormous, and more hostile to guns, because the right to carry guns is pretty much the only check citizens have on the government

{to put it simply, people are freaking out because the guv'mint is slowly repealing our right to kick some ass if government gets out of hand}

 

[MrSnugglesworth]

ZOMG OBAMA IS GUN(CWHATIDIDTHAR!?) STEAL ALL MY AMMO!

 

[AWC Viper]

You can never have too much ammo.

no you cant. *locks and loads M4 SOPMOD*

 

[AWC Viper]

I hope this plunges back into using Melee Weapons.

ooh yeah...I'd pick a Crowbar!

i call Sniper Crowbar.

 

[Nutcase]

I never thought I'd see the day when the USA runs out of bullets but wow..this is some really scary stuff. Not merely because the the US is facing a bullet shortage but the fact that it's causing a panic.

I for one understand the second amendment and the reasons behind it but surely, unless everyone in America is going hunting I don't see the reason for panic, let alone why the gun-industry people have to title such a thing as "Obama Rush".

Unless the dead start rising I think that this is a bit overrated and hardly calls for a civilian panic. Or am I missing something?.

Yes, you are. Panic is an irrational mental state driven by fear. The article doesn't talk about panic at all. It talks about "panic buying". Panic buying is a loose term for a phenomenon which does not require any actual panic, fear or irrational behavior to occur. See e.g. the definition on Wikipedia.

 

[Darth Pope]

Read his stance on the second amendment and you'll see why.

 

[Numb1lp]

I'll keep my guns and my money; you keep the change.

 

[masher]

I hope this plunges back into using Melee Weapons.

ooh yeah...I'd pick a Crowbar!

i call Sniper Crowbar.

What!?? Haha! I like the sound of that!