Runs on ammunition by private gun owners, coupled with Department of Homeland Security plans to stockpile over 1.6 billion rounds in the next four to five years, have created ammunition shortages, according to Fox News.

The scarcity has left law enforcement agencies high and dry.

The run on ammunition began as states started proposing highly restrictive firearm and ammunition legislation. One Florida lawmaker has even introduced a bill that would require gun owners to take an anger management course before buying ammunition. https://www.bizpacreview.com/2013/03/11/fla-bill-would-require-anger-management-classes-to-buy-bullets-54946

Law enforcement agencies have been forced to adapt. One Tennessee sheriff’s department, for example, now issues deputies fewer rounds when practicing at the range.

“The concern over firearms availability and ammunition availability and potentials of gun control certainly has impacted the availability of ammunition purchased locally,” Hamilton County Sheriff’s training coordinator Jody Mays told Fox News.

The public panic has created shortages for the Rollingwood Police Department in Texas, too. Police Chief Dayne Pryor said the situation is particularly hard felt in AR-15 and ammunition purchases.

“We have adequate supplies right now, but we’re limited to how often we can go to the firing range to train because we want to be conservative right now,” he told MyAustin.com.

In the popular TV series, “The Andy Griffith Show,” Deputy Barney Fife, played by Don Knotts, was only allowed to carry a single bullet in his shirt pocket, “in case of an emergency.” That was for his safety and the safety of others, since he had a habit of misfiring his weapon.

If the ammunition shortage continues, police may soon find themselves in the same predicament as the hapless Deputy Fife. But this time, the public’s safety would be at great risk.

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