Hunting season is approaching for many parts of the nation. There may be one issue though. Hunters may have trouble findings guns and ammo.
Gun shop owners have been reporting higher demand this year. Some shops are even seeing a rush on supplies as the season approaches.
On the first day of hunting licensing and permitting in 2019, the New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation reports that they made around $300 thousand dollars; that number dramatically increased for 2020-- $900 thousand dollars.
North Dakota saw a similar trend where they had a 40 percent increase in licenses.
There is a correlation between more permits and a rise in gun sales. Tim Kinton of Kinton Guns, in Farmington, New York, states, “The hunting season hasn’t had that big of an impact in gun sales in years, but with folks being homebound-- they’re sick of that.”
He also notes that the shortage of ammo may be a situation that will not go away on its own.
With it being hard to find ammo in some areas, store owners and gun ranges are having to limit amount purchased or used.
Another factor in the shortage is the COVID-19 crisis. Stores across the country say that sales have been high since the start of the pandemic. Ben Minkel, a gun store owner in Bonne Terre, Missouri, states, “Sales are higher than we’ve ever seen, even during the Obama administration... since many gun manufacturers shut down production due to COVID-19 for weeks at a time, we’re seeing shortages in weapons and ammunition.”
Many of the sales at the start of the pandemic were first-time gun owners. New customers spent on average $600 dollars per sale, according to the National Shooting Sports Federation.