KEYSTONE//Christian Beutler
Ammunition for guns is becoming more expensive and scarce. Hunters and sport shooters are primarily affected. The war in Ukraine is not the cause of this.
If you are a sports shooter or shoot at targets privately at shooting ranges, you have probably heard this sentence more often in recent months: “Sorry, it’s just sold out”. And if the ammo you wanted was available, you probably paid more for it than you’d like.
Among other things, there is a lack of nine-millimeter ammunition for handguns, reported ORF. Shotgun ammunition and sporting ammunition in caliber .223 Remington and .308 Winchester are also rare. Some online shops react to this with quantity restrictions per buyer.
The fact that the demand for ammunition has increased is also evident from the Swiss armaments group Ruag. The division with the highest sales in the past financial year was RUAG Ammotec, which produces small-calibre ammunition for civilian and military purposes. The reason for the high demand is primarily the USA, says RUAG spokesman Clemens Gähwiler when asked by blue News. Many Americans have invested in hunting and sporting ammunition over the past two to three years.
“Then the Corona crisis came and brought delivery problems and difficulties in ordering basic materials such as raw materials and metal,” says Gähwiler. Although everything is slowly leveling off once more, the situation is still not easy. Currently, more standard calibers are tending to be produced, while more exotic calibers are being produced less due to a lack of raw materials caused by the corona pandemic. This increases demand and price.
The war in Ukraine, on the other hand, is less important. Inquiries from other countries have increased, but orders are still within the same range, says Gähwiler.
More Swiss want a gun
In Switzerland, the demand is not only increasing for ammunition, but also for weapons themselves. In the first three months of this year, 11,119 permits for the purchase of weapons and registered sales by contract were reported in Switzerland. That is around 25 percent more than in the same period of the previous year. This was announced by the Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP) on Tuesday in response to a question from the National Council.
It relied on figures from 19 of the 26 cantons. There is no central weapons register in Switzerland. In the first quarter of 2021, 8,615 permits and sales contracts were reported. Against the background of extraordinary events such as the pandemic and the attack on Ukraine, it is not possible to conclusively assess whether the increased purchases of weapons correspond to a long-term trend, writes the FDJP. The situation will be observed.
(With material from SDA)
