DETROIT LAKES, Minn. — At Lakes Sports Shop in Detroit Lakes, the display cases and walls are still full of firearms for sale. But it has been a tough year with an ammo shortage.
"There were 8 million new gun owners last year, and if you times that by two boxes of shells per gun owner, that is 16 million boxes," explained shop employee, Jim Keeley. "On a good year, they make, maybe 4 million."
Making things more complicated, it is also a tough time for gun sellers to get guns.
"It's just a material shortage more than anything," Keeley said. "It's hard to get trying to get different metals or steel and getting workers is another problem that they are running into."
Right now supply is not meeting demand. In Becker County, nearly 500 permits issued in 2019, and almost 900 were issued in 2020. In the first three months of 2021, Becker County is on track to break a record.
ADVERTISEMENT
WDAY News contacted Otter Tail County as well. In 2019, 997 permit to carry were issued in that county. In 2020, the numbered jumped to 1453 permits. So far this year, the county has issued 339 permits.
Last year, it jumped to 1,453. The first two months of this year was 339.
In Clay County permits issued more than doubled from 410 permits in 2019, to 950 in 2020.
"We want people to have a reality of what they are getting into and know the ramifications," said Bruce Anderson, a certified firearms instructor for Red Bull Firearms Training.
Gun retailers hope with the pandemic winding down, the bottleneck of ammo and guns will open up so supply can finally meet demand.
