GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – A nationwide shortage has customers and sellers frustrated and looking for answers.
FOX 17 told you months ago about a soaring demand for firearms in West Michigan, now it seems the bullets to fill the guns are tough to find as well.
Ammunition shelves at local gun stores like Silver Bullet and Al & Bob’s Sports, both on Division Ave. in Grand Rapids, are empty and have been for months.
Customers will have trouble finding certain caliber bullets no matter where they look in the country.
Scott Devries a manager at Al & Bob’s Sports says he hears it everyday, “Hundreds of phone calls a day. And if we could record what we say to every phone call, it would be a lot easier.”
Unfortunately sellers don’t know when the bullet supply will fill the shelves again.
The shortage started at the end of December, shortly after the tragic school shooting in Connecticut.
Sellers say customers are concerned that tougher gun laws will occur in the future.
Mike Visser with Silver Bullet, a gun store and firing range in Grand Rapids said, “We have seen a huge, dramatic increase in the number of people becoming firearm owners.”
As buyers stockpile ammo, stores try to limit sales hoping to reach more customers.
Devries said he recently put 12 boxes of 22 caliber rifle rounds on the shelf in his store and they were gone in a matter of an hour.
“It was gone,” he said. “And we sold them one box at a time.”
Gun owners are concerned that the price of the ammo will continue to rise with the demand.
