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I try to keep up with gun and ammo trends, well, because I enjoy sport shooting. This piece from American Rifleman was brought to my attention. I only had a problem with a couple points, the biggest is the idea that DHS provides ammo to 70,000 enforcement officers. It’s much closer to 30,000 enforcement officers and 40,000 bureaucrats, 39,000 of whom are useless eaters with regards to burning off precious ammo. I’ve been looking for 22 LR ammo for 6 months. The majority of that shortage is driven, in my opinion, by the greater profit margin in more lethal calibers. And the majority of the panic buyers of 22’s are sport shooters. Like me, if I could actually find some to buy.

“It’s worth mentioning one silver lining to this surge in sales as a parting thought. As previously noted, every time someone buys a box of ammunition they’re paying a tax. [unless they are a federal agency- editor] This excise tax must be used for wildlife conservation projects, gun ranges and other such outdoor-related programs as mandated by the law. The revenue also must be sent to the states for these purposes—the federal government can’t use these funds except for some administrative purposes. So that $207 million raised from ammunition sales in 2012 is benefitting state wildlife departments, your gun ranges and more.”