Guns, ammo disappearing as demand grows

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Some firearm enthusiasts have been driving around Albuquerque for weeks, looking for the right caliber to fit in their barrels.

"Everybody is sold out its crazy the shelves are empty" Will Hartley said.

Hartley said he wants ammo to go hunting and for sport shooting, but can't find any.

"Ran out of nine millimeter last week, just ran out of .45 ammo today" Jerry Ellenberger of Los Ranchos Guns said.

He credits the run on guns and ammo to a number of factors: investors buying up to sell at higher prices, survivalists stockpiling for doomsday, first time gun buyers and worries that President Barack Obama is going to enact stricter gun laws.

"People have lost confidence in our government and then they see the economy, and you know, you might call it a recession—it's about a quarter inch off of being a depression," Ellenberger said.

Sales for Los Ranchos are up more than 200 percent in the first two months of 2009 compared to all of 2008.

As the frenzy feeds itself, Ellenberger thinks more shortages will follow and more Americans will stockpile guns.

40 percent of his business is first time gun buyers like Gail Bacon.

Bacon is buying a gun for protection, but what prompted her to buy it now is the prospect, that in the future, she may not be able to.

Obama said he will make good on his pledge during the campaign to reinstate the assault weapons ban implemented by President Clinton.