TexasCHLforum.com

Being a free market guy, I always have mixed emotions about these sorts of situations.

I know that part of the problem with the availability of ammo is that the raw materials have gone scarce for a variety of reasons. Some of it is clearly governments doing it on purpose. Some of the rest was a by-product of the pandemic shut downs. So the price of raw materials may be sky-rocketing. That may not be in the control of either of the makers or sellers of ammo.

The other aspect is that, having lived through the 1970's gas crisis, i know what happens when price controls are applied - only the corrupt can get the product. My parents said that it was the same thing during WWII. There was rationing and controls but the corrupt were the ones who could get things. One could say that in a free fall pricing situation, the rich who can pay the outlandish prices become the corrupt with the product but i don't see it the same way as under rationing. I always have the option, if I have enough money, to pay the price requested.

I also remember that the gas stations who gouged prices in the 1970s were paid back by consumers when the market return. All the ones that I knew who did it, went out of business. The market place can be a powerful consumer tool, too. In the day of mass markets, it is harder, but not impossible, for consumers to extract their revenge on unscrupulous merchants.

Just my $.02 worth.