According to Firearm Chronicles
The panic buying of toilet paper and cleaning supplies that have temporarily left store shelves bare is also starting to be seen in gun stores around the country, and it may soon have an impact on the availability of some common types of ammunition in the days and weeks ahead.
On Twitter, I asked folks who’d gone shopping in the past 24 hours to chime in and report on what store shelves looked like while they were in their local gun store. Plenty of people reported back on bare shelves, particularly for 9mm and .223/5.56 rounds.
Certainly that wasn’t the experience of all who replied. Several gun owners reported back that their local stores were still fully stocked.
Scott Ayers, the owner of Farmville Sporting Goods in Farmville, Virginia, says he’s been told by several distributors that ammunition is now being allocated to stores, which means that gun store owners like him can’t simply call up and place an order for whatever they want. Instead, he and FFL’s will have to work through the local reps for the distributors, who in turn will likely have to ration out orders for the time being to ensure that every store gets at least a little ammo to restock their shelves. It’s important to note that this is solely because of the high demand for ammunition, and not because of any production issues. Right now, 9mm is to gun stores what toilet paper is to grocery stores- probably sold out, but with resupplies on the way.