THE TRUTH IS, IT SUCKS: The Truth Behind The Great Ammo Crisis.

The simple explanation is that demand exceeded the supply, then continued to exceed the supply. But to understand how that happened you have to go a little deeper. According to Jason Vanderbrink, President of Federal, CCI, Speer and Remington, before the COVID-19 pandemic, there was considerable excess capacity in the ammunition market.

Manufacturers could make more than they could sell, so supply was abundant and prices were low. You could order a case of 9 mm off the Internet for $200. Manufacturers were prepared for an uptick in sales that normally accompanies a presidential election, but the excess capacity would have been enough to cover that.

2020 had other ideas. The first was the COVID-19 pandemic. Then a summer of civil unrest that sometimes turned violent. A hotly contested presidential election, and then the party of gun control having control of both houses of Congress and the Presidency.

Any single one of those would have spiked demand, but all these factors happening in rapid succession was more than the market could bear. Partly because the NSSF estimates that 7 million new gun owners entered the market in 2020. As Vanderbrink pointed out, if those 7 million new gun owners each bought 100 rounds of ammo, that’s 700 million rounds that the market needs to produce.

To put that in context, the entire commercial market in 2018 made approximately 8 billion rounds. An 8.75 increase in demand wouldn’t shut everything down, but when it’s added on top of the demand created by all the other factors, it becomes too much.

I took my boys to the range on Saturday, and was relieved to find the ammo shelves weren’t totally bare. The handgun selection wasn’t great, either.

FLASHBACK: Kamala Harris Joked About Killing Trump, Pence, and Jeff Sessions.

SECURITY THEATER: Pelosi fines two GOP congressmen $5,000 for alleged metal detector violation. “At no time until yesterday did anyone mention the need to be wanded after entering the restroom directly in front of the guards. Unlike in the movie ‘The Godfather,’ there are no toilets with tanks where one could hide a gun, so my reentry onto the House floor should have been a non-issue.”

CANCEL CULTURE IS ALL IN YOUR MIND: Lou Dobbs Tonight has been canceled after a decade.

EVERYTHING IS RACIST: Tom Brady Called ‘Racist’ on Social Media for Winning Super Bowl During Black History Month.

EVERYONE NEEDS A HOBBY: This dude made a mask of himself improperly wearing a mask just so he could troll people.

“A FISH, A BARREL, AND A SMOKING GUN”: Trump’s Defense Brief Eviscerates the Democrats’ Case for Impeachment.

CRYBULLIES: Cancel Culture Claims Another Scalp at The New York Times.

#FIGHTFOR15: Kroger to launch pilot for entirely self-checkout store.

VODKAPUNDIT PRESENTS YOUR DAILY INSANITY WRAP: Congrats to the Tampa Bay Genderfluid Boating Enthusiasts.

Insanity Wrap needs to know: Is it possible for one woke busybody to ruin busty pirate wench tattoos for everyone?

Answer: Of course it is. The woke ruin everything.

Before we get to the sordid details, a quick preview of today’s Wrap.

• Fairfax County, VA teachers getting vaccinated, send unvaccinated “monitors” to cover their classrooms, anyway
• AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has more tells than a Rossini CD on Repeat
• Soon, saying “The n-word” will be no different from saying the n-word

Bonus Sanity: Two GOP congressmen introduce the OMAR Act to clean up Ilhan Omar’s act.

And so much more at the link, you’d have to be crazy to miss it.

THANKS, BUT NO: Google wants to connect everything you own to the internet.

SPACE: SpaceX vs. NASA: Why it matters who will get us to the Moon first. “Ultimately it is a competition between an agency that has had years of testing and experience but is limited by a fluctuating taxpayer budget and administration policy changes, and a company relatively new to the game but which has already launched 109 Falcon 9 rockets with a 98% success rate and has a dedicated long-term cash flow.”

Related: SpaceX’s Crew Dragon just became America’s longest-lived astronaut spaceship.

SpaceX is catching up quickly on testing and experience.

IT’S GOOD TO BE THE NOMENKLATURA: Omar Kept Husband’s Consulting Firm Afloat. “Campaign payments to her husband’s firm accounted for nearly 80 percent of its 2020 cash haul.”

RAND PAUL: There Is ‘Zero’ Chance Trump Will Be Convicted, Impeachment A ‘Partisan’ Hearing.

More like a show trial, only without that trip to the gulag at the end.

WELL, YES: Democrats Go Ape Over DC Violence While Ignoring Riots, Murder, And Mayhem Everywhere Else.

INSURRECTION? Antifa Mob Threatens to ‘Burn Down’ Washington, D.C.

NEWS YOU CAN USE? Stimulus check calculator: Estimating your ‘$1,400’ payment isn’t so simple. What to know.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: Liz Cheney Is a Cancer That Could Kill GOP’s 2022 Hopes. “The fact that she was left in a leadership role gives her relevance she shouldn’t have right now. It will also give her a lot more face time with the advocacy media because everything she’s been saying for a month is a regurgitation of the Dem party line. Her position is virtually indistinguishable from that of Nancy Pelosi’s.”

CANCEL CULTURE IS ALL IN YOUR MIND: Twitter banned Gateway Pundit founder Jim Hoft. “Hoft joins a list of other right-wing accounts that have recently been banned for promoting falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election. The list notably includes Former President Donald Trump and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, among others.”

How are we supposed to figure out what the falsehoods are when we’re not allowed to discuss them?

BRUCE CARROLL: Parler Struggles Reach A Strange Turning Point. “If Parler does relaunch this week, without its CEO and founder Matze, all eyes will be on the site’s moderation policies.”

YOU’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER BLOG: 9+ Democrats Who Should Be Ousted From Their Committees by the Marjorie Taylor Greene Standard.

WHY NOT TAKE A BREAK FROM THE SERIOUS NEWS FOR A FEW MINUTES? Florida Man Friday: Florida Traumatized as Florida Man with Florida Forehead Tattoo Arrested.

YEAH, NO. Cancel Everyone! SPLC Wants to Decimate the Conservative Movement.

TO BE FAIR, MAXINE WATERS SAYS A LOT OF STUFF, VERY LITTLE OF WHICH BEARS ANY RELATION TO REALITY: Maxine Waters Says Trump ‘Should Be Charged With Premeditated Murder.’

ANTISOCIAL MEDIA: Fake accounts gain traction as they praise China, mock US. “A pro-China network of fake and impostor accounts found a global audience on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to mock the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the deadly riot in Washington that left five dead, new research published Thursday found.”

“Free” social media accounts are worth less than what you pay for them.