Rumors Abound, Usually Resulting in Unjustified Panic

You may have heard or read about that President Putin has allegedly stopped export of Russian ammunition to the United States ...

Mac Slavo reported, March 7^th, 2014 (Infowars.com):

Over the past 6-12 months, shortages of some calibers such as 7.62 used in the popular AK-47 semi-automatic weapon have been alleviated somewhat via massive imports of Russian production. That is about to change. The largest wholesale gun & ammo distributors in the US have informed us in private conversation today that a massive scramble is on for all 7.62 as Russia has reportedly halted all exports to the US of Russian made ammunition. Our distributor source informed us that yesterday they had several hundred thousand rounds of Russian made 7.62 TulAmmo, and after receiving word early today on the halt of Russian exports to the US,they have been completely wiped out of every last round in the past 10 hours!

President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry have issued threats of economic sanctions over the Ukrainian issue and it appears that Russia (President Putin) has made the first steps in countering against US intervention.

According to Russian suppliers, this claim was untrue and there are no restrictions put on ammunition from Russia, as reported by Bearing Arms. No word of such a sanction has been reported by US importers from Russia.

Was this reported by those who plan on making a profit by untruthful ammunition source scares?

I contacted my sources and they have stated that to date they are not experiencing any shortage of imported ammunition from Russia. TulAmmo insists that they have called Tula USA and that “business as usual” operations are occurring in regards to Russian imported ammunition. As Bearing Arms put it: 

 ..the rumored “reverse boycott” makes no sense at all.

Other sites that posted (March 7^th) that Russian ammo shipments have been halted are: Inquisitor, Max Keiser, and Prison Planet.

Yesterday, The Gun Writer reported that - 

...Russian firms currently licensed to export arms and ammunition to the United States won't be impacted by the sanctions. If, of course, there is or will be such a sanction.

I believe this is a rumor, spread by the fact that American firearm owners were worried that the issue between President Obama and President Putin would/will stop Russian ammo importing – and because of that, went on a spending binge to stockpile Russian ammo. This was also mentioned via David Knight (temporarily replacing Alex) at Infowars.com on a YouTube video.

In regards to such a sanction, it would be more likely that President Obama, based upon past policies and his political ideology, that he would be the one to stop Russian import of ammunition rather than Putin hurting his nation's economy and industry.

Five days ago, The Firearm Blog reported that -

This is a fluid ongoing situation. … They told us that the Ukrainian situation would probably not affect ammunition supply.

Meanwhile, Guns Saves Lives blog has stated:

Today, in relation to Russia’s actions in Ukraine, President Obama issued an executive order which was made to sanction Russia economically.

The blog posted an emphasized set of paragraphs claiming to come from an executive order issued by President Obama.

If this is true, Obama is executing sanctions, which falls under treaties, without the consent of the Senate. But what else is new with this guy?

However, if you read the wording in the excerpt, it is fuzzy and does not show proof that it is happening, as in this last quoted line from the alleged executive order. Guns Saves Lives is the only one reporting this, and if you check the White House posting website of Executive Orders issued in March, the one the Guns Saves Lives blog posted excerpts on their website says nothing about preventing importation of Russian ammunition – directly or indirectly. Neither the Executive Order issued on March 6^th, 2014 or the one on March 17^th 2014; both entitled: Blocking Property of Additional Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine. The order states, in excerpt:

I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, hereby expand the scope of the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13660 of March 6, 2014, finding that the actions and policies of the Government of the Russian Federation with respect to Ukraine -- including the recent deployment of Russian Federation military forces in the Crimea region of Ukraine -- undermine democratic processes and institutions in Ukraine; threaten its peace, security, stability, sovereignty, and territorial integrity; and contribute to the misappropriation of its assets, and thereby constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States. ...

Section 1. (a) All property and interests in property that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of any United States person (including any foreign branch) of the following persons are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in: … (B) to operate in the arms or related materiel sector in the Russian Federation; ...

That last sentence has nothing to do with Russian ammunition importation.

Dan Cannon is the author of that post and publisher of Guns Saves Lives. He does provide a link to the White House Executive Order website, in his defense, but the order signed by Obama does nothing what it is accused of doing.

It is purely speculation that what he wrote would come to be, as he admits toward the end of his article:

As I understand it, as of right now, the EO only affects certain individuals who are thought to be connected to the Russia/Ukraine conflict. However, it does appear the scope of the EO can be revised to be more broadly interpreted very easily as well.

Posted twice, neither Executive Order justifies what Mr. Cannon wrote.

Cost is almost always dependent upon “supply and demand” - and this sort of panicky, unethical reporting would only cause importers to raise their prices – either through fear of losing source or just plain greediness. It doesn't help much in the credibility department either.

Best to just wait for developments. If such an executive order would be issued, the ATF, I am sure would be involved and ammunition dealers will probably be one of the first to know.

I do not condone instituting panic just be speculation. It doesn't do very well for those reporting something on speculation and/or rumors, in regards to credibility – and that includes Infowars.com. 

Whether or not prices will be affected or supply cut off because of the Russian Federation versus Ukraine conflict is still not determined. Thus far no indication publicly would determine Obama has plans to add such a thing to the existing executive order or by creating a new one addressing such a mandate.

Of course, this administration has been noted for its back-door policy toward the movement to denounce Second Amendment rights, such as the EPA declaration that ammunition will be lead free. In light of that, I can certainly understand why some people would panic with a president who enjoys using his pen to sign executive orders that abuse his power instead for vetoing unconstitutional legislation like the Affordable Care Act.