Ammo Boom Could Prove Costly for Local Police
By: Lauren Trager, KARK 4 News
Updated: January 16, 2013
Business has already been booming at gun shops and shows all over the Natural State in the weeks leading up to Wednesday's announcement.
Consumers concerned about the new laws have been loading up on certain guns and ammunition, but this strain on supply could be putting Arkansas police officers in a pinch.
This is the time of year when law enforcement agencies do pretty much all their ordering for the year on the guns and ammunition they'll need to protect people, but this year, their suppliers are telling them they may have a wait awhile.
Even with stacks of ammunition, 40,000 rounds will last the department less than six months.
They need all this ammunition for their officers to be fully trained ever year.
"If you are ever faced in a deadly force situation we want to make all of our officers are trained properly and are used to using the handgun because it's a tool we do not have to use very often," says Sgt. Brian Dedrick with North Little Rock Police.
Now their supplier says they're having a hard time getting their hands on enough ammunition to give out to police departments, forcing them to tell agencies to expect delays in this year's orders.
Sgt. Dedrick says they can train on with dry fire weapons or simulations, but it's really not the same thing.
So he and other officers are hoping they'll receive their new shipments of ammo sooner, rather than later.
Consumers concerned about the new laws have been loading up on certain guns and ammunition, but this strain on supply could be putting Arkansas police officers in a pinch.
This is the time of year when law enforcement agencies do pretty much all their ordering for the year on the guns and ammunition they'll need to protect people, but this year, their suppliers are telling them they may have a wait awhile.
Even with stacks of ammunition, 40,000 rounds will last the department less than six months.
They need all this ammunition for their officers to be fully trained ever year.
"If you are ever faced in a deadly force situation we want to make all of our officers are trained properly and are used to using the handgun because it's a tool we do not have to use very often," says Sgt. Brian Dedrick with North Little Rock Police.
Now their supplier says they're having a hard time getting their hands on enough ammunition to give out to police departments, forcing them to tell agencies to expect delays in this year's orders.
Sgt. Dedrick says they can train on with dry fire weapons or simulations, but it's really not the same thing.
So he and other officers are hoping they'll receive their new shipments of ammo sooner, rather than later.
