Ammo has become hot local commodity since early 2020
While many industries and retailers across the nation have struggled to find business during the ongoing pandemic, dealers of ammunition and guns can’t relate.
That’s the story at Mountaineer Pawn of Spruce Pine which, since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, has had a difficult time keeping ammunition in stock.
Fast forward to the beginning of 2021 and not much has changed for the local shop. Co-owner Sonya Wheeler said ammo demand at her store continues to be sky-high.
“We get multiple calls every day asking if we have certain kinds of ammo,” she said. “We just check the websites every single day and whatever they have, we order.”
On Tuesday, Jan. 5, the Mountaineer Pawn ammo case and shelves contained several boxes of various ammunition but Wheeler said she expects it to be gone sooner rather than later.
“I’ve never seen it like this,” Wheeler said. “Not even in election years. Election years are always busier, but not like this.”
The Mountaineer Pawn billboard at the front of the parking lot near the main entrance was recently adorned with large block lettering: “ammo in stock,” it read.
That is the case most of the time at the shop these days, but it only comes as a result of regular, diligent purchasing from Wheeler and her staff.
“When we find it, we get as much as we can,” Wheeler said. “Usually, by the time we’re running out, we’ve been able to replace it but it’s just hit and miss. Sometimes, I’ll go to add it to the cart and it’s already gone that quickly.”
Wheeler said in addition to ammunition, gun sales are up. Pump shotguns, AR-15’s and handguns, in particular, are difficult to come by, she added.
“It’s everything,” she said. “Especially the pump shotguns and stuff for home defense. A lot of that is selling. Reasonably-priced guns are what everyone is wanting.”
Mountaineer Pawn clerk Neil Crisp has seen the wave of demand firsthand. He said it comes down to a story of supply and demand.
In particular, he said, people seem to be most interested in shotguns and small arms.
According to the Mitchell County Sheriff’s Office, there were 378 new concealed carry permit applications in 2020— more than double the 157 new applications processed in 2019.
Additionally, 378 individuals filed to renew their existing concealed carry permit in 2020 compared to 247 renewals in 2019.
The Mitchell County Sheriff’s Office also processed 325 handgun purchase permits in 2020, up from the 134 permits processed in 2019.
“It seems like people just want to defend their houses more than anything,” Crisp said. “People want a small, short barrel shotgun or a pistol they can carry on their person.”
Crisp said he attributes the rise in ammo sales to a rise in new gun owners. The increase in gun ownership, he added, likely comes from a shared desire among rural residents to prepare for a potential dystopian reality that would force people to “fend for themselves like in the old west.”
Crisp said 2020 was a perfect storm to create such panic— a polarizing presidential election and a global pandemic worked together to create a vortex of demand that has dwarfed the supply.
“Everybody assumed stuff would get a little high in 2020,” he said. “But the pandemic really just set it off.”
Crisp said gun sales seem to be stabilizing some as the new year begins. Ammo sales, however, remain a different story.
“Guns are still hard to get,” Crisp said. “But, they seem to be a little better. Ammunition just doesn’t seem to get better.”