Would y'all believe that the Wal-Mart stores that still sell guns... will STILL sell guns? And ammo prices haven't "jumped" there, contrary to a great many customers' beliefs. There's a reason we don't have anything on the shelves.
We can't get it.
Let me reiterate.
The. Warehouses. Are. Empty.
In their panic, buyers have depleted supplies. As such, we can't get much in stock at a time. And when we do, someone goes and cleans out our shelves. There's no limit on ammo purchases here. Some people are just stupid and paranoid.
Others are greedy, reselling the ammo at gun shows and their own shops at a significantly higher price (Example: $8.97 Remington UMC .223 FMJ being resold at about $15 a box)
And some are just afraid they won't be able to go get ammo whenever they want it (as they rightly should be able to) and as such they buy all they can.
Regarding guns, every slack-jawed yokel thinks "I need a Mini-14 and I'm gonna get me some of those banana clips and make it an AR, and I'll be able to take on anyone." Or even more commonly, "I need a black shotgun/rifle."
Or: "This rifle comes with a scope. I'll put a bipod on it. It's now a sniper rifle. I'm a sniper now."
Seems like I'm making broad generalizations here but that's how it goes.
Regarding some of the guns we carry, they just sell too quickly. The aforementioned, Mini-14, for example, is so highly-sought after that we seldom keep one in stock for more than three hours. The Mossberg Maverick, being a dirt-cheap (and black!) shotgun, is about as popular.