DAY 6: Ammo approaching ‘Unobtanium’ in Chicagoland (except at MegaSports); More city PDs not responding to burglary, theft, assault calls

It’s been a busy time considering the much of the nation, including Illinois, has shut down.

Here’s the latest from my world:

Ammo becoming unobtainium.

Illinois gun retailers are considered “essential” by the Illinois State Police and the governor.  And business has been brisk.  Very brisk.

Especially ammo sales.

I’m getting word that ammunition is becoming quite scarce, especially in Chicagoland.  Even here in Bloomington, store shelves were thin last week, even with serious purchase limits.   I haven’t been out “shopping” to do any further ammo checks myself, but one of our GSL family called me from the south suburbs today.

He said that most gun stores are down to the oddballs and obscure calibers.  You want 9mm or .380?  Tough luck.  They got .45 GAP and maybe some 9mm Largo.   But common calibers?  Good luck.

Our guy hit the jackpot at MegaSports in Plainfield though.  He reports they have lots of ammo.  Lots.  Unsure if the MegaSupply ship sailed into port or what, but they now have both practice ammo and self-defense loads.   And they dropped their earlier purchase limits!  Repeating, NO LIMITS on purchase amounts.

No, they didn’t pay for this announcement.

No word on if prices have been hiked, but when your store is the only game in town and everyone wants some food for their GLOCKS and SIGS (to say nothing of Rugers and S&Ws), even slightly pricey ammo looks appealing.

Yeah, I know.  The average reader at GunsSaveLife.com has an ammo fort that looks like this.

Or this…

Or this…

But most gun owners probably look at a couple of hundred rounds as “a lot.”  Or heaven forbid, they might even consider 200 rounds as “more than enough.”  For many, if they have enough rounds to load a couple of magazines, they think they have “enough.”

Non-commercial break. 

Safe for work and more delicate ears.  No drinking or sipping of beverages immediately before clicking “play.”

https://youtu.be/IbQX9ndDLl4

Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

There seems a troubling trend across America where police are not responding to theft, burglary, and assault calls.  Unless someone’s bleeding, the cops are avoiding contact with the public where possible.

This has led to criminals and druggies (sorry, I repeat myself) taking it as open season for stealing stuff to finance their habits.  Er, I mean buy clothes to wear to their college classes learning how to cure cancer.

Cincinnati is just the latest of many cities that isn’t sending five-oh unless the suspect is present or someone is dead or dying.  And I don’t mean from the ‘Rona either.

That means you’re on your own.

The law doesn’t allow the use of deadly force to protect property.  One exception would be “essential property” that is required to preserve life.  For instance, if someone has a generator outside powering a life-sustaining medical device, a homeowner could make a good argument that deadly force was needed to defend that life-sustaining device (generator).

On the other hand, if some mutt is stealing your TomTom from your car, call the cops and don’t shoot them with anything other than a camera.

Not unless you can convince a jury that you needed that TomTom to find your way to your cancer doc for lifesaving treatments.  You’ll need OJ Simpson’s legal team to pull that one off though.

Obviously property crimes in these cities will go up sharply, so keep all valuables out of sight and employ other strategies to make your property less appealing to ne’er-do-wells than that of the people around you.

And keep your personal defense tools handy.  Carry both at home and everywhere outside the home that your local laws allow.

IF you haven’t got concealed carry insurance, you really, truly ought to sign up.  Like yesterday.

Your loved ones need you and are counting on you to come home each night.  Don’t forfeit your life to a criminal by leaving your gun at home when you could have had it on your person.

Thoughts on a timeline for returning to some sense of normalcy.

The common question I’m asked at lot is, “When will we restart our economy?”

Not sure why people are asking me.   My ties to President Trump are peripheral at best.  He’s not asking the Second Amendment Coalition how to handle the Chi-com virus situation.

I will say that if you listen to PDT’s comments this week, he’s talking like the restart might happen as soon as next week.  He says his goal is to have an economic re-start by Easter (April 12th).

Now, Dems and the mainstream media would like to see the economy idled as long as possible, thinking that will hobble Trump’s re-election campaign.

And now with the Coronavirus Economic Stimulus bill poised to pass, Blue States like New York, California and Illinois can continue their states’ shutdowns knowing there will be lots of federal money waiting for them on the other end.

Of course, Trump will be damned either way.  Either for risking lives by re-starting the economy or by risking the economy for “waiting too long” to restart normalcy.

Earlier this week (Wednesday?) JB Pritzker said he may extend Illinois’ shelter-in-place beyond April 7th.  Given Pritzker’s animus for Trump, I have no doubt politics will enter into Pritzker’s decision-making process.

Things have a way of sorting themselves out so time will tell.

Obviously, nerves will fray and mental health of Illinoisans will grow increasingly tenuous as this “shelter in place” order continues.  To say nothing of freshly unemployed people running out of money to buy more food when their pantries run out of food.

Brace yourselves.  Either way, crime is going up in Illinois under the leadership of Jay Bob Pritzker.  Keep your awareness up so you aren’t the next property crime victim in Illinois.

Lastly, let’s close on something uplifting.