WFTX — LEE COUNTY, Fla. — David Hartman has been on a wild goose chase for the past month.
“I just like to target shoot, and range shoot. You can’t hardly get ammo. So, it’s kind of disappointing,” he said.
He’s looking for ammunition at different gun stores in Southwest Florida.
“Probably about six or eight - by going by or calling or checking online,” he said.
When he walked into Florida Gunsite in Fort Myers Thursday, he struck out again.
He’s not the only customer owner Mark Fiacable turned away.
“We have to turn away literally dozens of people a day who want to buy ammunition,” said Fiacable.
Prior to the pandemic, there was no limit on how much ammo he could sell.
“Starting about a year ago, back in June, we had to start selling one box of ammunition with a gun,” he said.
Ammunition is so high in demand, Cape Coral Police Department asked city council for more funding for it. Not because the department is running low, but because it’s so expensive.
Wednesday night council granted an additional $22,000 for it. That’s on top of the $90,000 originally approved for this fiscal year. Bringing their grand total for ammunition to $113,951.
“Over the past year, prices on most ammunition has gone up by at least four times, some more,” said Fiacable.
He explained a box of 9 millimeter bullets would cost $10-$12 last year. That’s jumped to $40 - $50 this year. He said that’s due to a number of reasons, like supply shortages and manufacturers shutting down.
“Remington, which is one of the biggest ammunition manufacturers in the country was in bankruptcy and shut down for all that time,” he said.
He said he’s hopeful that prices will go down again with Remington being able to manufacture again. They had billions of dollars worth of back orders. so, there’s no telling when they’ll be caught all up.
Local law enforcement agencies like Lee County Sheriff’s office and Charlotte County sheriff’s office told Fox 4 they currently have enough ammunition.
