Post-Sandy Hook Ammunition Shortage Easing in Fenton

Here’s some good news for Fenton area target shooters and hunters: Ammunition shortages are easing.

Fenton Police Chief Rick Aro said that’s good news for his department, the Tri-County Times reports. During the shortage, which reached its height this past summer, police restricted officers’ trips to the shooting range. But now, Aro says, ammo for most of the pistol calibers is more available at this time.”

Most area police departments anticipated the shortage and planned ahead. Last year, .22 and 9mm ammunition was already scare, Aro said, “and when the gun-control folks started talking legislation last summer, things got really bad.”

Aro said it’s still difficult to find .308 rifle ammunition, though .223 ammunition for duty rifles is available through the state contractor for police ammunition.

The newspaper said a “perfect storm” of events late last year created the shortage, starting with the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, CT, a year ago this week.

In the aftermath of the school shooting, one of the deadliest in U.S. history, parents of the victims called for better enforcement of gun laws, tougher penalties for violations and other measures that revealed sharp divides in the gun-control debate.

Sales increased in response to the new round of gun-control talk, and a major manufacturer took a two-week Christmas vacation, creating further shortages, mostly in the .22 caliber ammunition used at handgun practice ranges.

One area gun dealer said he saw a 50 percent increase in ammunition sales as a result.