High Ammo Demand = Less Shooting?

For the past few weeks, I’ve noticed that the amount of patrons at my local shooting range has declined considerably. While I don’t have the hard numbers of customers per weekend, it is definitely noticable by simply observing the firing line from opening to mid-afternoon.

There is definitely a demand for ammunition, as evident by rapid sales (resulting in low to no availability at the retail level) even with the higher prices for ammunition across the board.

With ammunition (as well as ammo components) selling out constantly, you would expect people to be at the range more than ever, right? But it is looking to be the opposite.

I theorize that a good majority of ammunition being bought by consumers is simply being stored away without any intent to use the ammo in the immediate future. This trend is very unfortunate for avid sport shooters, especially competitive shooters who rely on the availablility of ammunition components (powder, primers, bullets, brass). Some of these shooters are being forced to scrounge what they can in order to shoot in matches, while people continue to hoard ammunition and components for storage.