Scenes from the COVID-19 Gun & Ammo Rush

As the sheep strip the grocery stores, so they strip the gun shelves. The coronavirus has scared the public and many are rushing out to stock up on ammo and buy guns for the first time.

Sportsmans Warehouse instituted strict ammo rationing guidelines. As of Sunday, 3/15/20, only a small amount of popular calibers remained on the shelves. Hunting and specialty ammo was fairly plentiful. Magazines were running low. The gun counter, just after the 10 AM open, had a dozen people waiting for service.

Bass Pro Shops was similarly stripped of most calibers, but there was plenty of .22LR. Carts of ammo sat out. Endcaps still had some overlooked products. Shotgun shells and hunting cartridges were not in high demand. The gun counter looked like Black Friday. 

On Friday, Sportsworld in Ely was enforcing rationing of two boxes of ammo per customer. Big Gun Enterprises said that on Friday, it was four hour wait just to get into the phone queue for background checks with DPS. They were limiting ammo to three boxes per caliber per day.

Other stores are reporting hour waits for background checks to clear Carson City. Spartan Arms said on Sunday that it will take them 1-2 days to get results back to release guns, having done 250 or so sales. This is more reason for why Nevadans should have concealed firearm permits; CFP (CCW) holders do not need a background check called in (unless it's a private handgun sale) and just fill out the ATF Form 4473.

Spartan Arms Facebook livestream Sunday night

Henderson Sportsmans Warehouse ammo aisle

Henderson Sportsmans Warehouse camping food aisle

Bass Pro Shops gun counter line overflow

Bass Pro Shops handgun ammo; some 44 MAG, 45 Long Colt, 10mm, .380

@cjjohnsonjr on Twitter; this is a gun store in the Los Angeles area, 3/14/20. California has a 10-day waiting period on all firearm purchases and one-gun-a-month rule.

@pfal

Unknown author on Twitter; Burbank, CA 3/15/20

@neodem on Twitter; Philadelphia

@QBolden3 on Twitter; Atlanta area?

New Frontier Armory on Saturday, from their FB page

SGammo.com website on Sunday night

Ammo vendors are showing "out of stock" on the majority of items with others on back order until the end of the month or April. The ammo crisis will probably not be alleviated for a long time, taking us back to 2013.

Meme from the Internet