9mm is one of the most common rounds of ammunition in the country, yet it's quickly becoming harder and harder to find and costlier and costlier to purchase once found.

Why the 9mm ammo shortage? 

The quick answer is that demand is so high, but the thorough answer is that a large portion of the Department of Homeland Security's 1.6 billion round stockpile is 9mm--as are many of the 20 million additional rounds DHS has ordered.  And when you take these millions upon millions of rounds of ammo out of the market at a time when private demand is high, you get the dearth we are now experiencing.

As I wrote on Feb. 10, gun owners are up against a perfect storm. Private gun owners are buying up every box of 9mm they can find while some of the most popular ammo brands--like Federal Ammunition--are stretched to the limit because they are not only trying to fill Wal-Mart shelves, but also produce the millions upon millions of rounds DHS is ordering.

The difference between now and Feb. 10 is that I was buying 9mm online for about $18 a box at that time. In less than a month the price for the same box of ammo at the same online store has risen to $34.59.

While many of the conspiracy theories that have been propounded to explain DHS ammo purchases ought to be rejected out of hand, it seems increasingly reasonable to believe these multiple, massive ammo orders have been placed one upon the other to exasperate the already low supplies in the private market.

It continues to sound like gun control by another name.