Why is it socialism/communism when the owner of a store decides what, how and when to sell their products. That's a market decision/force, not a government/political force.
If I had a shop, it is my right to make those selling decisions.
Remember the signs you've seen in various shops . . . "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason".
Frankly, my business goes to those who are going to look out for the good of their ENTIRE customer base for the long term, as opposed to some slam-bam-thank-you-mam greedy chump.
So I applaud the sellers, with enough backbone, who are rationing their sales quantities. Keeps more folks happy, supplied and willing to come back.
Ah finally, someone else who sees the big picture. This whole ammo greed and resulting shortage has made me do something for the first time in my adult life; resent other sportsmen and shooters. That's right. I'm sure the liberal tree huggers are just laughing it up watching all of us turn on each other as we try to hoard ammo from one another. I do indeed resent that guy who took all 15 cases just as much as I resent the local gun shops who jack the price of ammo up just because they can. I saw the same box of blazer brass that sells for $8.97 at wally world being sold at a local fun shop for $29.99. I do resent some people implying on here that my opinion runs parallel to communism and "Franco's Spain." Yes, this is capitalism, yes, this is free markets working as they should, yes, I can sense the invisible hand sweeping across the self defense industry and for what it's worth, I would not change it for any alternative.
What I am saying is that the inconsiderate and panic mentality of shooters over ammo leaves a really bad taste in my mouth. Yes, you have a right to screw someone over in this country and I would never ever imply that you should have that right taken away. What I am saying is that you also have the right to choose whether or not you screw someone over. Personally, having several other people behind me in line for ammo, I don't think I could clear the entire shelf out not because I'm a communist or believe in socialism, but because I have consideration for others who enjoy the same activities and have the same passions as I do. I have the choice to be considerate of whoever I please whereas with socialism I don't get the choice. I'd have to be considerate of EVERYONE, including the freeloader and entitlement crowd.
For those of you hoarding all the ammo, think of the newbie shooter who, more than you, needs to put some quality time in at a range in order to be proficient and comfortable with their new firearm. There exists the possibility that this new shooter, not being able to find enough ammo to practice with, gets into a situation and needs to use his/her firearm to protect themselves. Not getting enough range time in to develop muscle memory or quick presentation and target acquisition skills (because there is no ammo), said newbie fumbles with gun, bad guy grabs it from them, newbie gets assaulted and then RIP. The liberals love hearing this and it gives them another angle to lobby for gun control because "citizens can't and don't know how to properly handle firearms. They do more harm than good as evidenced by said Newbie." In the meantime Joe D-Bag is sitting at home with a safe full of 10,000 rounds.
I just think that, in light of the huge amount of new gun owners, this is a great opportunity for the industry and its participants to shape how it is involved with the masses. We need to take care of our own, hence the NRA, GOA, etc. How'd you like it if the top brass at NRA said they will fight and lobby only for the gun rights of those who can pay $100,000 annually or perhaps the first 50,000 people to email them. Screw the rest. It's America, it's free markets, they can hypothetically do that. With enough power and money you could include and exclude any demographic you wanted in legislation. Just because the NRA is fighting for the collective, yes, I used the word collective, population of gunowners, would those of you who rail against box limits at walmart say that the NRA is socialistic or communist?!?!?!
This is the big picture that I wish more gun owners would see right now. When things settle down, there are a handful of establishments, both gun shops and ranges that I will no longer give my business to because they fail to see the big picture. Sure, they might have been able to squeeze an extra $10 a box from me when they shouldn't, but they will lose out on thousands of dollars in the future when I decide to purchase more firearms elsewhere, refer friends and family to someone else's CCW and safety courses, and refer shoppers to other locations to purchase shooting goods. Take my sentiment and multiply it by however many others see themselves getting screwed over and you've got a pretty large sum of lost revenue.
I will however continue to give my business to the store I visited today that was fortunate to find and purchase a LARGE amount of Speer Gold Dot HP rounds. Instead of jacking up the price, they were offering the savings to the customers of < $0.85 (the equivalent of like $16.50 for a standard box of 20 rounds) a round. So I picked up 50 rounds for about $42. Delighted, I also picked up some hoppes #9, some snap caps for the girlfriend to practice with loading mags, racking the slide, and also smoothing out the trigger, and some other things I needed for a total of around $95-$100. If I wanted just the equivalent rounds at the other place that is screwing everyone, for 50 rounds of gold dot, selling at $34 for a box of 20, I would have had to pay $85. So in the end, not only did I feel like I found a shop that really cares for its customers in this hard to find ammo time and will return for future purchases big and small, but I also ended up buying more/spending more there compared to the other place that thought it would make more money off of me by jacking up ammo! And to boot I probably won't go to that particular establishment ever again.
THAT, my friends, is capitalism. Now leave me some gosh darn ammo on the shelf!....and I'll do the same for you.