ANDERSON — Bearing arms just got harder.

Last week, the Anderson Wal-Mart didn’t have a single round of handgun ammunition on its shelves.

Those same empty shelves were found at Crack Shot Guns and Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Across the nation, shelves that once held thousands of rounds of ammunition are sitting empty as gun owners load up on ammunition and guns, buying much more than they need.

Mike Clevenger, owner of Crack Shot Guns, said his manufacturers simply cannot keep up with the demand and are practically rationing out bullets to retailers.

“They give me 2,000 rounds instead of 5,000. That’s with every dealer though.”

The largest shortage in ammunition, he said, is in bullets used for handguns and semiautomatic weapons, often used for home protection.

The shortage does not only apply to ammunition, he said. “The sale of guns has gone through the roof.”

Obama ‘hates guns’

Clevenger said the shortage has been felt all year, and started just after the country elected its first Democratic president in eight years.

The election of President Barack Obama, he said, startled gun owners, who quickly loaded up on ammunition and guns, fearful that the Democratic majority would strip them of gun rights. “The federal government is introducing so many bills concerning ammunition, people are scared and instead of buying one box when they come in, people are buying 10.”

Michael Stephenson of Middletown is the secretary and treasurer of the Alexandria Conservation and Gun Club and said today’s leaders in Washington don’t sympathize with gun owners.

“Everybody’s so afraid that after the election, they’ll try to confiscate the guns and ammunition. Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, Obama — they all hate guns.”

Although Congress has not yet passed any gun laws, Clevenger said state legislators are well on their way toward driving up ammunition prices.

Ammo encoded

In early 2008, Rep. Bill Crawford, D-Indianapolis, authored a bill that would require all bullets sold in Indiana to be encoded with a serial number, making each bullet identifiable to law enforcement.

Under the law, customers purchasing ammunition would be required to show a driver’s license so that each bullet spent could be tracked back to its original purchaser.

Crawford also proposed a 5-cent fee on each encoded bullet, which would be included in the purchase price of a box of bullets along with any additional cost imposed by the manufacturer for the encoding process.

Clevenger argued that criminals who commit violent crimes with bullets will not go through the legal channels to get encoded bullets, so the law would only punish the innocent.

“It boils back to the old thing that the honest law-abiding citizen at the end has to pay for the illegal use of this ammunition and these guns. Every time they make a new law, it’s always restricting the law-abiding citizen.”

Rep. Scott Reske, D-Pendleton, said the bill died in committee last year before even getting a hearing on the House floor, and he doesn’t know of similar legislation currently being heard in the House.

If the bill had been put to a vote, Reske said he wouldn’t support it. “I don’t like encoding ammunition. I just don’t see the need. It’s just a way of controlling guns. I believe strongly in the Second Amendment.”

Reske, a reserve police officer and United States Marine, said he’s noticed the rising price of ammunition as the shortage drains the supply.

“They’re going through the roof.”

Reske said he reloads his own ammunition because he shoots competitively, but said the price of brass casings could eventually affect his hobby.

Though he’s fearful that future legislation by Democrats could infringe upon the rights of gun owners, Clevenger believes the shortage of ammunition and guns is temporary. “It’s kind of like we’re getting six inches of snow. Go get some bread and milk. We’re not going to drink that milk before the road is cleared, but we panic and go get the milk. That’s what’s happening with ammunition.”



Contact Brandi Watters: 640-4847, brandi.watters@heraldbulletin.com



Facts

Americans use upwards of seven billion rounds of small arms ammunition every year. Source: National Rifle Association

The Bureau of Justice reports 72 million approved new and used firearm transactions by firearm dealers between 1999 and 2007. Source: Bureau of Justice

There were 12.7 million background checks on prospective gun buyers in 2008, compared to 11.2 million in 2007.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation