My LGS of choice has been unsuccessfully struggling with this new reality since November or so. As supply tightened, they experienced shortages. Since January 1st, they have been hurting - the handgun cases are essentially empty, long guns are mostly consignments, ammo is rare. They can't even keep ammo in stock at the range.
I went in today to shoot, and wanted to shoot a G19 rental gun. You must buy ammo there for the rental guns. They had three boxes of Remington 9mm - 100 round boxes, $29 each. No more on the horizon. I offered to split the box and leave 50 for someone else - nope. Computer isn't set up for that...so instead of five more people getting to rent 9s, two more will.
It's hard to stay in a retail business without product. Which is better - having 9mm ammo for $20 a box of 50 or not having any at all? I bought several thousand rounds off the Internet in December and early January, but would have been happy to pay 50% more at the LGS, BUT THEY DIDN'T HAVE ANY! They kept their profit margin low, and now they have no inventory.
I spent a dozen years in retail management, and a wise old business owner liked to remind us that "Nothing happens until you sell something." No truer words were ever spoken in a retail environment, and it's hard to sell something you don't have - at ANY price.
An added bonus for the antis is that this shortage WILL put some small LGSs out of business. They still have overhead, even when they don't have inventory. Gotta pay the rent, utilities, employees, insurance...
Had they raised prices to whatever the market would bear, and then lowered them to balance with supply when they get resupplied, some people would have been mad. Those same people are mad now because the LGS doesn't have ANY guns or ammo.
Raising prices and rationing during shortages (and especially runs!) aren't mean, unpatriotic, unfair, or stupid actions. They are survival skills for small retailers. WalMart won't lose most of their income if they have to wait a year for another shipment of guns or ammo - but most LGSs would.