More on the ammo shortage

From Bob Owens:

The shortage began no later than 2007, when law enforcement agencies began having problems placing massive bulk orders, their typical purchasing strategy. The Associated Press tried to blame the shortages on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a falsehood that was easily debunked by pointing out that the military has its own dedicated small arms ammunition plant that — running at peak efficiency — was producing a half-billion rounds per year more than the military was using at that time.

Bob says it appears to be increased worldwide demand at unprecedented levels. Ammo plants are running at 100% capacity.

I thought a year ago that this was a outlier, a combination of the war, political unease and new shooters. Based on that it made sense that the ammo plants run at 100% capacity but not increase capacity.

Now I think we’re seeing a worldwide change in the ammo markets that will last for years if not decades.

If I owned an ammo plant, I’d be adding capacity as fast as I could.