Ammunition, Rifles Hard to Find At Gun Shops - WSAV: News, Weather, and Sports for Savannah, GA

It's a problem many businesses would like to have-- selling their products before they even get in the store.

it's a reality for many gun dealers, not just in our area, but around the nation.

the sandy hook shootings may have started this "run on guns", but for gun dealers it's become a marathon of selling - and they are it in for the long haul.

"It's like Christmas"

But Santa, in this case, is the UPS driver.  

He's coming to the gun shop on Eisenhower Drive with boxes of ammo, guns and rifles, all of which will probably be gone soon.

"Selling out of stuff about as fast as it comes in the door," explained Kayton Smith of The Gun Shop. "Every shop in the United States is competing for some weapons."

Kayton Smith is talking about weapons like this AR-15, which he says for buyers is like gold.

"People are still panic buying," said Smith. "I thought it would have slowed down by now. A lot of that is because the government has come out... we are going to propose this, we are going to propose that. Nothing has stuck so far, but people don't know what to do."

He's got a list 40 people deep that dates back to December, all full of folks waiting for the next rifle to come in.  

Smith says the waiting isn't the store's fault.  it starts at the source.

"I've got a distributor with some 100 some people got some 500 of them in," explains Smith. "Each salesperson gets 5 of them, but each salesperson handles 200 stores."

But just as valuable these days is ammunition.  

22, 45 and 9 MM rounds like these are gone faster than, well, a speeding bullet.

"One guy comes in, sees we got it," smiled Kayton. "As soon as he walks out the door he calls his friend, who calls 2 more friends, 2 more friends before you know it they are all gone."
 
"If we say this on TV now and say you've got boxes of 9's."

"Might not last the day."

Part of the problem is the so-called "run on guns" happened right around the holidays when production staff were taking vacations , and the gun and ammunition makers were slowing down production for the end of the year.

Some dealers are taking full advantage of this massive demand, sending prices sky high in stores, or scalping guns online for almost double retail price.

Kayton Smith says his store is keeping prices at retail, because when the demand slows down he wants customers to come back, not be scared away by high prices.