On August 20, 2021, the US Department of State banned Russian ammo and firearms importation into the United States. The ban, a minimum of 12 months, begins September 7 of this year.
The words of Milton Friedman come to mind: “Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.”
Two weeks to flatten the curve, anyone?
Why the ban, and why NOW?
According to the bill, the ban on Russian ammo is due to the Russians’ use of the chemical agent Novichok to poison Alexei Navalny in August of 2020. These recent sanctions would be the second set imposed on Russia for the use of a chemical agent.
On August 8, 2018, five months after the Novichok poisoning of Sergey Skripal and his daughter, the US government agreed to sanction Russian banks and exports. However, the Trump administration never implemented sanctions set for August 27, 2018. [source]
The poisoning of Navalny happened a year ago, in August 2020. NOW, the US Government takes action?
If that’s the case, why did we stop at Russian ammo and arms?
This author feels the reason given by the government is to ensure that advocates of The Constitution will find it difficult to argue against such a policy.
“But we thought you didn’t like communism? Why do you want to trade with our enemies?”
Why not a complete embargo? That would be the logical step. And if we’re genuinely concerned about the development and use of bioweapons and chemical agents, why are we still trading with other nations?
What will this Russian ammo ban mean for Americans?
Within my area, there’s been a drastic shortage of ammunition for months now. Local gun stores often only have steel-cased Wolf ammunition on the shelves. When one’s not able to buy anything else, the Russian steel case will have to do.
And I don’t believe I’m alone in this predicament. For the past two years, Americans have had to buy what they can – and always at exorbitant prices when it comes to ammunition. With the banning of Russian ammo, we will only see an even worse ammunition shortage and even higher prices for what’s still left on the shelves.
After September 7, expect ammo shortages and higher prices.
Whether you buy Wolf, Bear, Tulammo, Barnaul, or Red Army Standard, you’re going to be out of luck. Anyone who shoots 7.62x39mm, your ammunition will be just about impossible to find here in the States.
Regarding the State Department claiming these sanctions are because of the poisoning incident in 2020, the NRA had this to say:
While that may be a viable reason for the United States government to sanction the Russian Federation, the ammunition import restriction seems more aimed at punishing American gun owners and businesses than as a foreign policy tool to influence the Russian Federation. [source]
The NRA also stated that this policy
“…will certainly lead to more ammunition shortages, higher prices, and therefore fewer Americans excising their fundamental rights. It may also result in the shuttering of American small businesses that rely heavily on the importation of Russian ammunition.” [source]
Is the US punishing Russia or not?
So, we now have a policy of punishing Russia for actions done in August 2020. So, why then did Biden waive sanctions against a Russian pipeline as of May 26, 2021? (Well after the poisoning incident.) I would argue the pipeline benefits Russia even more than us buying Russian ammo. Three months after the waiver, the US government decides to do something about an incident in 2020. Something that coincidentally hurts American Constitutionalists.
Do those in positions of power in America honestly care about hindering America’s enemies? Keep in mind an American is asking this question after the American government handed over thousands of rifles, sidearms, artillery units, fighter jets, fighter jet flight simulators, tanks, Blackhawk helicopters, and more to the Taliban.
Couldn’t we have packed all that up and taken it home? Let’s not forget we also left behind American military uniforms (for easy future sabotage attempts) and the biometric and identification data of all Afghans who helped us over there. [source]
Is the United States punishing Russia or are they just putting further restrictions on law-abiding American gun owners in yet another end-run around the Second Amendment?
But can’t the sanctions be lifted?
According to the new policy, only the Executive Branch can lift the sanctions. Furthermore, for the Executive Branch to even consider lifting the sanctions, several “conditions” must be met by Russia. Conditions include:
“…providing assurances that Russia will not use chemical weapons in violation of international law, the nation is not preparing to use chemical weapons in the future, it will let international inspectors verify the assurances, and it is ‘making restitution to Mr. Navalny.” [source]
What if the Russians meet those conditions?
My opinion? It will never happen. The Russian ammo ban is here to stay. And American gun owners know the reason why.
What do you think about the Russian ammo ban?
Is the Russian ammo ban yet another end-run around the Second Amendment? Why is Biden doing this now? Have you found a reliable source for ammunition lately? Share your thoughts, suggestions, and sources in the comments below.
About Jeff
Jeff Thompson is an avid fisherman who likes to spend time sailing on his boat and reading while at sea.
I have only shot Wolf Match grade .22LR. Good stuff with the occasional FTF.
Those of us in the air gun world have seen shortages too in pellets. Not sure if it is due to “panic” buying or just more people getting into shooting air as the supply of rimfire or cost has them changing to air.
TELL ME folks had the foresight to know this was coming for years…
AK ammo was cheap and readily available!!
I just don’t GET 75% of my countrymen… Just like the great toilet paper debacle of 2020, they wait until AFTER a crisis is either declared or upon us, before they take actions to mitigate….
Ammo deficiencies should have been individually addressed the moment at latest? As soon as anti gun democrats took the executive. Those exercising foresight remedied WAY BEFORE that.
Sorry… But i have no tears for those finding themselves sans AK food….
Oh Lord …
What a nightmare. I agree with the author of this article.
Like clock work they are ticking off one right after another, chipping away at our country’s reason for even existing.
They do it in secret while some other major emergency is going on and then we find out as an afterthought.
“Oh yeah, by the way…”
I could quote many past comments made by our founding fathers but the only one that’s important is the roaring sound of them as they roll in their graves.
It doesn’t matter either way. Us so called “patriots” will huff & puff and at the end of the day we will do absolutely Nothing as usual. My friends do you all not realize that we are cutting our own throats? And don’t think for 1 second that the government doesn’t also recognize we are “Paper Tigers.” We are going to end up the modern day JUDEN!!! I can hear the whistle of the cattle car coming around the bend. . .
Well, you may be paper, but mine is brass, lead and copper. and bi-golly this ol 1968 Vet knows how to do it, and I never hesitate. Hesitation will get you killed, on into a long conversation with someone trying to talk you out of his consequences.
I’m too old to waste time talking, better to just gitter-done.
Dave you said it well, hesitation will get us killed. I agree, but realistically and objectively, except for some people in a few places, everyone is hesitating. What most of us are doing, besides preparing for and typing against it?
And let´s be honest, I can´t see how we will do something “when time comes”, if right now things are going down the drain and we´re just watching, taking it and ho-humming about it (for the most part).
Please don´t take it personal, I´m not in any way questioning your or anyone´s resolve or capacity to fight back. It´s just to provoke a reflection on will vs. words vs. action. It´s what I´ve been thinking about more of latelly. I´m sure I can do more too, and I´m feeling it might be necessary if I want to change anything.
Stay well.
Everyone has to decide where their line in the sand is. I have one for work and mandated jabs. I have others depending on the situation.
I’m not going to go off half cocked. If you look at the years leading up to Lexington and Concorde those folks took a lot of crap bedore they said enough. It wasn’t until the British had decided they had to disarm the peasants before things got hot. Personally, I think that first shot was fired by an old guy who had decided “I’m just about too old for this crap. If I shoot a Brit then we get this going while I still have some steam left in me.”
The government has come damn close, but they haven’t gotten to the “disarm the peasants” stage. No revolution can be successful without the suppprt of the people. We haven’t even seen mass protests by the silent majority yet.
Biden is an idiot, those around him are idiots. Nancy is drunk on power and wine. They will continue to push, they will continue to ratchet up the tyranny and they’re too stupid to know when they’re about to cross the line. So they will cross the line, I’m not exactly sure where that line is or when it will be crosses, but they will cross it and the silent majority will be silent no more.
It could happen in Portland this weekend since Antifa is now bringing guns to their riots. The proudboys said they have moved their protests but they will not bw doing that again. That along with Antifa bringing guns is a recipe for shootings and death. That could be the spark that sets it off.
This is has been a slow burn to date and it will continue to be a slow burn. At least for now. I don’t think we have much longer until it gets very ugly.
As things have ratcheted up since Biden took office I’ve watched more people come to the realization that things were going to get real bad. They still hope things will turn around, that we can make it to another election. I’ve also seen those same people realize that we may not make it.
The anger in the people I talk to is palpable. It’s slow building, but at some point in the not too distant future it will explode. They’re still trying to play by the rules and not resort to violence but they are resigned to the fact that nothing short of violence is likely to succeed in stopping the tyranny.
@Fabian, It would be a decision once pushed to far. I’ve thought about our Fore Fathers, what resolve did they finally come to. Besides the British coming to Bunker Hill and taking our stores of firearms. Once a person crosses that line of becoming a resistance, a patriot, ect. there is no going back to the way life was beforehand.
I would do it for my kid, and my grandchildren.
@WhereEaglesDare.
I get it, but how far is too far? How late is too late?
I see so many not just accepting, but actually welcoming the tyranny, as long as it’s to keep them “safe”.
When the false promise of safety becomes evident, it will be too late. We give an inch, they take a mile.
When they come for more, they’ll get it just as easily as they’re getting it bite by bite now. Everything crawls until everything runs. We’re waiting for a decision moment that won’t happen.
BTW that’s just a rant, whatever will be, will be. Maktub – it’s written.
Pretty sure we went through this with Norinco back in the day. It’s old POTUS just doing what he’s done or been a part of in the past. It’s the playbook. He’s incapable of accomplishing anything new as we’ve seen the recently.
I guess all the gun gurus will have argue about something else other than steel cases. If you were worried bout it there wasn’t a ban on extractors.
Anything this administration can do they will.
Shoulda bought it cheap and stacked it deep. Foods next.
It’s still available though prices are steadily increasing which also causes the other prices to increase.
One of the things I’m seeing is folks trying to get into new calibers. Not a great idea unless your loaded.
-Matt in OK,
Yeah, even prior to the Great Ammo Shortage of 2020-2021 (soon to be 2022?), there was the new wonder round of the month, put out by various ammo manufactures.
Some were good rounds.
Others, took an old round, mod it just a bit, slap a new name on it and see if it sold.
I cannot afford to keep up, just stick with the stuff that is common and been around for a long time.
The only round I might consider would be a 45-70.
I almost messed up by jumping into the 6.5 Grendel at the start of covid but I’ve stocked it up now and as I mentioned parts ain’t banned yet so a spare BCG and Barrel and I’m back in business with our common caliber.
Biden Regime is drying up the ammo supply.
Government is paying farmers to destroy their crops to create a food shortage.
They are pushing an unsafe, untested experimental gene therapy that they wrongly call a vaccine.
All done on purpose by traitors within, intent on population reduction.
Don’t play their game!
Resist!
Civil Disobedience?
What say you?
Totally agree.
One of my favorite scenes in movies comes from the shoutout at the end of Grosse Point Blank.
The punchline: “So what are you going to do? Just throw that gun at me?”
https://youtu.be/p9YjOweDcUw
I am certain that Putin did not lose a minute’s sleep over this ban. It is obvious that China owns this senile turd . Ban Russian ammo, but allow China to take over Afghanistan, buy up U.S. farm land, import countless items as well, like medical items, machine parts, and processed food.
Mao, Stalin, O’Biden, same playbook from hell.
The ban has nothing to do with Russian ammo being sold here in the US. it has to do with keeping Americans from resisting tyranny of a new communist regeme headed up by biden and his communist regime. Fortunately I saw this coming way ahead of a lot of folks and prepared accordingly. The war that is coming to our country will not only be (un)civil, it will also include an invasion form China and a few others. Folks if your not ready for whats coming, I sincerely hope you are finally waking up to the fact that our nation is under a tyrant and is inviting china and others to come in and try to take it from us. I will be adding to the attrition of any external enemies, and internal traitors. Traitors will be dealt with expeditiously, and bullets will not be wasted, Rope is reusable and non-expendable. Treason in the highest offices of our nation must be dealt with swiftly and publicly in order to let others realize it will NOT BE TOLERATED.
Dave, I’m afraid that you are correct on all points. It took guts to post this.
In all honesty, I used those Russian brands when nothing else was available. For some reason, while other 7.62 ammo was gone from the shelves,there was always an abundance of Russian made ammo left. This is. MY OPINION. It was dirty, and after shooting maybe a couple dozen rounds, jammed up from all the crap the ammo left. My opinion. However, point well taken. I dont use 7.62 anymore (ahem)
Of course it’s all by Design. Anyone prepping for a while should have already known this was coming. And of course they left everything behind in Afghanistan. They have to make sure the Middle East is destabilized. With the satanic Army fully armed. This is about the new world odor. And yes, it stinks. It is global, but America is a country that is armed, and we stand in their way. But like I said, anybody who’s been prepping for a while likely hasn’t had the want or need for anything for the last year, regardless what it is.
The government does not want a revolution they have tried their best to formulate a civil war. Where Americans kill Americans they just come and mop up. But it hasn’t happened with plan number one or two. The end game will likely be a EMP. And no one will really know where it came from or who. Could it be the Sun, China, Russia, North Korea, Iran? Or the traders that reside within our government? It won’t matter for most have not prepared. And that will lead to a 90% population reduction perhaps more if you figure in the Jabs. The remaining 10%? Most will willingly walk to a fusion camp. And they really won’t care about the remaining holdouts the numbers will be too small and insignificant. And one day when they poke their head out their hidey-hole, the Drone will scan them, see that they have not been chipped, and eliminate. I could be wrong! But these are the scenarios that I planned for decades ago.
Old Man, you must have been reading my mind. I was thinking along the same lines as you.
They’re trying to get firearm bans. That’s not working for now. So just ban ammunition. How many billion rounds of ammo did we just leave for the Taliban? That’s why we can’t get ammo here. I buy that American ammo manufacturers are trying to keep up with demand. But I do believe the US government is buying most common calibers up to keep the public from getting it. The government is more interested in arming our enemies than letting us defend ourselves against them.
You can buy whatever ammo you want. For me, personally, I don’t trust something as bullets I would buy from your enemy. Nope, sorry.
Maybe for target practice, but not in a real war. Then check your guns after, and after, and after.
Sorry, not worth it for me. I just do not trust a commie.
Thinking on it, I think Mr. Thompson is spot on with his assessment: Shortage and higher prices.
Makes sense, supply vs demand. Cut off one source (i.e. Russia, and not the individual Russian manufacture), demand is still there, classic economics 101.
The reason for the Biden admin to make this move is, well, laughable.
In this regard, they dont care! And it appeals to their base, “Biden is doing something about gun violence!” (not really, see Chicago)
Meanwhile, they think they are hurting the pro-2ndA types.
Not really. The ammo shortage has been going on pre-Biden admin. Then toss in the millions of new gun owners, many of whom are first time buyers, minorities and women after witnessing the 2020, “Fiery, but mostly peaceful protests.” They want ammo too.
Most preppers had their own supply well before all that.
Eh, others bought when they could, where they could.
Others have moved to an alternative to keep up with the fundamentals of marksmanship, and keep from shooting up our supply of ammo.
Long term, what could the Biden admin do?
Right now, I think they might have a bigger issue to deal with.
I have a lot of Russian ammo. They can come collect it one round at a time
If I’m not mistaken, I believe there are numerous domestic manufacturers of the 7.62 x 39 SKS / AK47 ammo. As expected, supply will become limited but shouldn’t dry up.
Jeff, I believe you’re right that this isn’t coincidental at all, that this happens just as products are starting to show up on shelves in my neck of the woods, as in yours. This is intentional on this administrations part, and it’s death by a thousand cuts aimed at American Gun Owners.
Next to the AR platform, both the AK and SKS are very popular with enthusiasts and preppers. The SKS in particular due to it’s low surplus cost (in the 80’s under $100). Both use the Russian 7.62 X 39 cartridge.
Back when I first decided I to foray into prepping, I considered AK/SKS vs AR, and stuck with AR. Ammo was a deciding factor in the equation. My reasoning was that 5.56 X 45 is US Mil Standard, thus it trickles down to far more often than other calibers. Military, Law Enforcement and Corrections all use 5.56, so 5.56 will be easier to scrounge.
Wolf, Barnaul, and the others make 5.56 as well, but I steer clear of it, as it’s pretty dirty compared to US ammo in my experience. Since I reload, I haven’t bought a box of ammo in a while, just components.
Like others here, I too, think things are reaching the boiling point. As for if we have the resolve? Look to our womenfolk. When Mama Bear mode kicks in, I pity the Left. Women fight for survival, and it’s the sharpest goad.
Personally, I don’t expect to survive the coming troubles. My health is in decline, and there’s not to be done but manage the symptoms. So my preps are geared towards my children and grandchildren’ survival than my own. With that in mind a hail of bullets promises a cleaner death than the one the DJD offers. I only pray I can take as many of the bastards with me when I go.
Sic Semper Tyrannus
Feuchaidh MI Ris An T’sabaid.
HERES HOW IT PANS OUT,95% of most gun owners are as YELLOW as a banana,and they wouldn’t protect their family or the US CONSTITUTION or anything else,their cowards of low reguard,THIS will be a major stumbing block to the Patroits and the few who will try to save the country,SADLY what I see is the complete lost of the country to the MUZZIES in the coming war,OH,they won’t get everyone,there will be a lot of patriots who won’t surrender,PROOF,a bunch of turbin headed peasents just kicked americas ass,as they did the russians and everyone else,YES there will be survivors when the war ends,BUT it won’t be many,THE LORD already warned everyone,pussies,cowards,girlymen,homo’s and all the like, will NEVER see the day their in heaven..IF ANY OF YOU TOOK AN OATH TO GOD,you best be ready to fight to the death,Because if you LIED to GOD your going to the lake of fire when you leave this world…
With Afghanistan get prepped,armed if the government won’t help there do you think they will help us can any one day “RED DAWN”
I can see the catamarans sailing into Mexico now. Mexico doesn’t allow anyone to have firearms. You can buy ammo. I never say never. Enterprising truckers from south of the border will be happy to bring in boxes at a profit. Most of the trucks from Mexico are never inspected. The Cartels are already all over this: and they will make huge profits. Riden with Biden just took on a whole new meaning!!
I am praying for you and your dog. I just lost my Golden Retriever to cancer….we spent thousands on specialists but could not save him. He was with me 24/7 and since I am retired and live 200 miles from my children he became my child….I know what you are going thru….wish I could hold your hand.
Thank you. I’m so sorry for your loss.