by the Night Writer

Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition as it appears the only way to get bullets now and for the forseeable future is by divine intervention. I won’t get into what caliber gun Jesus would use (though He did say, “Blessed are the Peacemakers,” which, coincidentally, use the same bullets that I’m trying to find) but right now there is a national supply and demand issue on a scale of trying to feed the multitude with a few loaves and fishes — and the baguettes are on backorder.

Anyone who has tried to purchase handgun ammunition recently has found the shelves bare and on-line retailers embarrassed. This isn’t a case of direct government or retailer-induced artificial scarcity that typically drives most commercial shortages, though the perceived threat of government involvement appears to be a significant factor in consumer reaction, as the Utah Standard-Examinerreports:

Ammo in short supply; Dem takeover gets blame

OGDEN — With firearm dealers struggling to keep ammunition on their shelves, it seems the gun and ammunition business has been stimulated in a way few people expected.

The minute Barack Obama stepped into the White House, people scrambled to gun stores to buy as much ammunition as they could get their hands on. Now, there’s a shortage of ammunition all over the country as demand is three times the supply.

“It’s been a huge topic since the election,” said Mike Casey, vice president of Smith & Edwards in Farr West.

“Ammunition is hard to come by, and the demand isn’t getting smaller. Even with production increases, it is extremely difficult to get ammo.”

Casey has been out of several calibers of ammunition for more than six weeks now, with no expected date of delivery.

The run on ammo is one effect of an increase in gun sales, or would-be gun sales:

From Jan. 1 through the end of March, 63,348 people in Utah have gotten the background check necessary for obtaining a firearm, according to data on an FBI Web site.

In the past 10 years, the state has averaged 90,000 people a year getting those background checks. If this year continues at the same rate as its first three months, Utah would have nearly met its yearly average of background checks by the end of April.

New gun owners naturally need bullets, and existing gun owners don’t want to be caught short. As a result (emphasis mine),

One manufacturer, Winchester, has back orders for 200 million rounds of .45-caliber bullets.

The company’s machines produce 1.6 million rounds a day, which puts them more than 120 days behind.

It’s hard to imagine there’s a need for 200 million rounds of .45 caliber in the general public. Shoot, I’d be happy if I could get another 50 or 100 rounds before my CCW proficiency test, but I’m told repeatedly that September or October is the earliest to expect re-supply. And I can just about forget about loading my own as well.

And it’s getting tougher to make your own bullets, too. Reloading supplies sell out nearly as fast as they hit stores, Spencer said.

Recently, Kent Shooters Supply received a shipment of 80 pounds of gunpowder. That amount, typically a six-month supply for the store, was sold in three days.

“It’s crazy. The guy in the past who bought a pound of powder is now buying all I have on the counter,” Spencer said.

The situation is nationwide, not just in Utah as other recent stories from Milwaukee, Kansas, Virginia, Texas, Arkansas and California show.

Another source I visited reported that the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) shows that background checks on the sale of firearms jumped 23.3 percent in February when compared to February 2008. The increase follows a 29 percent rise in January, a 24 percent rise in December and a 42 percent jump in November, when a record 1,529,635 background checks were performed. I checked the NICS site myself to verify this, but couldn’t find that data despite checking several categories and trying different word searches. However, I did eventually come across this article which verified the November and December numbers. Perhaps someone wiser in the ways of dealing with government opacity can find the relevant data for the first quarter of this year.

Judging by this type of activity it only seems natural to suggest that if President Obama and Congress want to save the U.S. auto industry all they have to do is threaten to ban SUVs.

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