Len S:
jcwit: I don't put any stock in the conspiracy sausage grinders' tales either. They are started by people who take some joy in gossip, which is a filthy habit, and spread by people of the same ilk.
Something is happening, and it seems a reasonable
theory should come fairly easily, to wit:
Say a guy usually buys 2,000-3,000 primers per month. Enough to replace his used up stock, and he normally keeps 10-15k on hand. Now say he "hears" that someone, after a certain date, is going to take away all his shooting fun stuff, and he gets unduly alarmed by this idiotic rumor. Next payday, he takes all his mad money and buys 25,000 primers. He does that for three or four paydays in a row, or maybe for three or four credit card billing cycles.
Now, imagine there are 127,000 other guys out there doing the same thing all of a sudden.
After a few months of that, "someone else" in the guy's household tells him "Knock it off, I wanna start buying food again!", and the guy eases up a bit. Of course, there's another batch of guys who didn't get to spend their wad yet because the first batch bought up all the primers in the initial rush. The second batch have money yet, and as soon as more primers come in, they buy them up 'cause they're still buying into this stupid rumor.
Eventually, all the panic buyers are gonna say "Hey, nothing bad happened!", and they'll quit buying primers. Just like when Clinton got elected.
I'm old enough to remember the toilet paper "shortage" and the first primer "shortage" years ago. It was the first time I remembered paying $18-20 per thousand for primers. Clinton didn't cause it. Shooters caused it because they believed a rumor.