The coronavirus has off a run on ammunition sales in Canada, with gun enthusiasts worried about supplies becoming short..“It’s been like the toilet paper run,” a target shooter called Jeff said in an interview with the Western Standard..“If you want lots at the last minute, your’re screwed. I’ve bought a little here and there when they have been on sale, so I’m okay.”.Retailers across the country said they have seen a run on ammunition, 90 per cent of which is produced in the U.S..“There’s no doubt that there’s been a stretch of busy days with lots of customers coming through. Right now, the big push is for ammunition,” Backcountry store owner Steve Hewitt, in Fort St. John, told the Alaska Highway News..“Some people are coming in because they’ve heard rumours that there will be ammunition shortages but that isn’t the case. Other reasons people are coming in are they want to be stocked in case we have to close, they want to spend the down time target shooting, or they’re worried that prices may go up.”.Ross Faulkner, owner of The Gun Dealer in McAdam, N.B., said he has seen a surge..“When things get tough, it’s certainly a feeling of security, especially when you’re dealing with uncertain times like we’re dealing with now,” he told CBC.Strong firearms sales are also a concerns because the feds have promised to bring in new gun laws..“This happens when people are worried about where things are headed, but honestly we haven’t seen anything quite like this,” Hewitt said to the CBC..Wes Winkel, who runs a gun shop in Ontario, has never seen a spike in sales like what he’s experienced in the last week: a 200 per cent increase..He said business came from hunters and target shooters worried the supply of ammunition..“Unprecedented. That’s the only way I could describe it,” Winkel, who runs Ellwood Epps Sports Goods in Orillia, Ont., told the CBC. .Photos from the U.S. have shown people lined up around the block at gun stores..“This is self-preservation. This is panic. This is ‘I won’t be able to protect my family from the hordes and the walking dead,'” said Ed Turner of Ed’s Public Safety in Stockbridge, Ga., adding sales are up five-fold..An image of a lineup outside Retting Guns in Culver City, Calif., has been making the rounds on social media. On their Facebook page on March 13, the store’s owners said ammunition supplies were running low for some types..On Tuesday, CBC said the owners moved to limit capacity inside the store to 25 at a time, asking customers to sign up to gain access. By the next day, they had moved to appointment only to deal with the influx of buyers. .Because only licensed gun owners can make those purchases in Canada, there is no reason to be worried, said the CEO of the Canadian Coalition for Firearms Rights..“It’s not criminals that are swamping the gun stores, it’s law-abiding citizens that would go through the trouble to get and hold a licence,” Rod Giltaca told the CBC..Federal Safety Minister Bill Blair said the Liberal government would act quickly in bringing in a ban on the so-called “assault-style” weapons..There was also a talk of a buy-back programs that could cost billions of dollars for the government to buy the guns off Canadians who had purchased them while legal..The federal government says they are looking to ban “assault rifles” and “military-style” guns across the country quickly – despite the fact they haven’t defined what constitutes one yet, or have been already banned since the 1970s..Blair has said the “military-style” rifle ban will come in the “near term,” and added gun ownership is a privilege, not a right..Blair has said a handgun ban will take longer to bring in because municipalities will have to be consulted..The outbreak of the coronavirus has likely but new gun control regulations on the back burner..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com.Twitter: @Nobby7694
