Conspiracy theories claim the government is responsible for the ammo shortage. Unprecedented demand is the actual root cause. 

WASHINGTON — A Virginia gun owner told us a gun without bullets is just a hammer. And when ammunition supply can't catch up with demand, you end up with a lot of hammers.

Step into most gun stores these days and you'll be hard-pressed to find full shelves of firearm ammo. You're more likely to find them sparse and with their price tags jacked up more than 100%. A year ago, the outlook was bleaker. That's because the United States saw record levels of gun purchases in 2020.

The FBI reported a 40% increase in the amount of firearm background checks from 2019 to 2020. The National Shooting Sports Foundation estimates about 8.4 million of those were first-time gun owners.

The trend hasn't let up in 2021. FBI data shows 12,452,319 background checks just in the first quarter, January through March. Pandemic lockdowns, social unrest, a fraught presidential election and an insurrection all appear to have caused spikes in gun buying habits compared to years past.

 
"You couldn't go to Walmart and find anything (ammo) on the shelves. They were completely barren," said Dave Simmons, a firearms safety trainer in West Virginia and Maryland.

Simmons says the uncertainty at the start of the pandemic about possible food and supplies shortages drove demand.

"People were getting anxious...and they wanted guns to defend themselves," said Simmons.

Empty ammunition shelves became their own cause for anxiety, and conspiracy theories started spreading on social media about who could really be behind the shortage. So VERIFY searched for the answers.