The rise in ammunition sales is impacting the purchasing time for bullets.
This could possibly slow down police departments from getting ammo in a timely fashion.
What's happened is the huge rise in ammo purchases by civilians is creating a backlog for groups like police departments who need constantly refilled stock.
We talked to an ammunition expert who says it is not a problem for law enforcement yet, but without good planning it could be.
“I mean if they are just buying as they use it, they are probably going to be in a shortfall,” stated HACC Law Enforcement Training Officer Joe Hogarth.
Hogarth is a law enforcement training officer and a retired Carlisle Police Firearms Instructor.
He's aware of the surge in civilian ammunition purchases and what can happen if police departments don't adjust ordering habits
.
“It definitely creates a problem because it happens really fast,” Hogarth commented. “I know last time we saw this it was with the military and caused with wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
Hogarth says the longest wait for ammo now is for rifles. It's now a roughly ten month wait for bulk orders.
Pistol ammo isn't quite as long as that, but still much longer compared to a year ago.
Hogarth estimates each local police officer uses a minimum of fifty rounds per year, that's just for the state minimum annual training.
So again, Hogarth says this is not an issue currently for departments, and he hopes most are already accounting for longer waits.
He says to prevent shortages at his facility he's already purchasing for next year and even 2015.
This could possibly slow down police departments from getting ammo in a timely fashion.
What's happened is the huge rise in ammo purchases by civilians is creating a backlog for groups like police departments who need constantly refilled stock.
We talked to an ammunition expert who says it is not a problem for law enforcement yet, but without good planning it could be.
“I mean if they are just buying as they use it, they are probably going to be in a shortfall,” stated HACC Law Enforcement Training Officer Joe Hogarth.
Hogarth is a law enforcement training officer and a retired Carlisle Police Firearms Instructor.
He's aware of the surge in civilian ammunition purchases and what can happen if police departments don't adjust ordering habits
.
“It definitely creates a problem because it happens really fast,” Hogarth commented. “I know last time we saw this it was with the military and caused with wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
Hogarth says the longest wait for ammo now is for rifles. It's now a roughly ten month wait for bulk orders.
Pistol ammo isn't quite as long as that, but still much longer compared to a year ago.
Hogarth estimates each local police officer uses a minimum of fifty rounds per year, that's just for the state minimum annual training.
So again, Hogarth says this is not an issue currently for departments, and he hopes most are already accounting for longer waits.
He says to prevent shortages at his facility he's already purchasing for next year and even 2015.