Local gun stores try to meet demand as gun and ammunition sales spike

Price says it all started last March when the pandemic first hit.

FARGO, N.D.- Local gun stores are seeing a spike in gun and ammunition purchases.

Michael Price from Bill’s Gun Shop and Range in Fargo says it’s been a while since they’ve been able to take a break.

“Oh, we’ve definitely been busy,” Price said.

He says meeting demand has been quite a task.

“It’s been a little bit of a challenge getting resupply on stuff that we’re selling and stuff like that,” Price said.

Price says it all started last March when the pandemic first hit.

“Supply started to decrease with factories shutting down to COVID, and then the demand went up a little bit cause I think people were scared,” Price said.

He says this created the perfect storm for shortages of guns and ammunition.

“I mean you’ve got COVID, which shutdown a lot of the plants and that month of backlog caused almost a deficiency if you will, that’s going to take a while to catch back up,” Price said.

Price says the most popular weapon has been the handguns.

“I’ve seen quite an increase in concealed carry interest and things like that,” Price said.

He says the reason he’s seeing a recent spike varies from political to self-protection.

“There’s been some people that are saying you know, going into a new administration, ‘I’m going to get it, just in case I can get it.’ And there’s some people that are concerned with their personal safety at home and out and about,” Price said.

Price says the store has been steady and able to keep demand, but he doesn’t think this will be slowing down anytime soon.