APPLETON, Wis. (SPECTRUM NEWS) — Wisconsin gun shop owners say they’re experiencing a major shortage of firearms and ammunition.

Marc Drewek manages the Reel Shot in Appleton. He said gun sales spiked when states began shutting down at the start of the pandemic. 

He said while the coronavirus pandemic and social unrest are some of the reasons people are buying guns, he believes just as many people in Wisconsin are buying firearms because more people seem to be interested in hunting.

“I think more people are getting involved in the outdoors, they’re finding a way to get out,” Drewek said.

Whatever the reason, state and federal data shows just how much interest there's been in purchasing firearms in 2020.

The amount of requests for firearm purchase background checks to the Wisconsin Department of Justice more than doubled from 15,094 in February to 33,018 in March when the pandemic hit. 

The numbers have held steady in the months that followed:

  • April: 20,904
  • May: 19,393
  • June: 25,776
  • July: 19,703

Numbers from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) show the number of background checks for firearms sales in the United States topped three million in March, May, June, and July of this year.

The only other time since 1998 that number topped three million was December of 2015 when 3,314,594​ firearm background checks were initiated through NICS.

“I’ve experienced some things like this in the past, but nothing like this in the past ten years,” Drewek said of the high demand and low supply.

He said while demand has been high, firearms and ammunition manufacturers are playing catch up after temporarily shutting production down due to the pandemic.

That’s left several distributors with close to empty inventory, Drewek said.

“The distributors, the manufacturers are doing the best that they can to get this stuff out to people so they can get out there and shoot,” he said.

He said there’s no clear indication on how long it’ll take for supply to bounce back. In the meantime, he said the store will work to keep shelves, racks, and display cases as stocked as possible, and put limits on how much ammunition each customer can purchase.

“I think it is a little bit of a waiting game. I think it will change as all things do,” he said. “It just may take a little while for that to happen.”