I have been reading on various forums (not all gun related) about people who are unable to find any ammunition in stores or from online merchants. Recently, there have been some posts that suggest the current shortage has been artificially created by the government. Seems the government is supposedly threatening manufacturers with loss of military contracts unless the manufacturers curtail civilian production. This is an interesting theory.  Why would the government want to keep ammunition out of civilian trade channels? Would this be an attempt to disarm the public? I have no idea why the government would care. Just how many gun owners do you really think would fight the government to keep their guns? Most will line up like sheep and do whatever the government tells them to do. Regarding ammunition in particular, the government can always ban non-stamped or non-serialized ammunition and make everyone in possession of older, non-compliant ammunition a felon anyway. What does all this theorizing about clandestine reasons for shortages do? It causes panic. That increases demand and it's just demand that causes the shortages.

Manufacturers are in business to sell product and make money. But, manufacturers have a fixed production capacity. If demand has been stable for the past eight years and then increases by 67% after November 2^nd, there is no way to increase production by that amount to equal the demand. Retail ammunition ordering was forecast at 130% of last year, not 167%. If you are one of those people who decided after November 2^nd that you had better “stock up,” it is your purchasing that is making ammunition scarce. I stocked up, too, but I did it in February 2008. There are a lot of new gun owners and people who are nervous, they are all trying to buy ammo right now. With the recent announcement from Attorney General Holder about an “assault weapons ban,” the entire situation has gotten worse. Did some supporters of the president really believe he wouldn't attempt to reinstate that ban at some point? While the administration tended to distance itself from Holder's remarks, the gun and ammunition market was hit with renewed buying.

The manufacturers are all producing at maximum capacity. There's no conspiracy. There’s just panic buying. Until demand drops off a bit, ammo will remain in short supply. Don’t dwell on non-existent conspiracies. There are plenty of other things to worry about.