ONTARIO >> They came 4,000 strong from places like Costa Mesa, Whittier and Covina.

It was the Southland’s first gun show of the year Saturday, and buying ammunition seemed to be the top reason to make the trip to Ontario.

Gun shows have been banned in Los Angeles County for years.

Last year this same show opened to a many-hours-long line, coming a few weeks after anti-gun sentiment strengthened nationally in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Newton, Conn.

“It’s not as crazy this year,” several vendors said of Saturday’s crowd.

Aaron Charles, 25, of Costa Mesa summed up the feeling of many at the Crossroads of the West gun show at the Ontario Convention Center, saying he wanted “stock up.”

“The government is really cracking down on ammunition,” Charles said.

With ammunition supplies sometimes lean at local retailers, Charles thought he could boost his personal inventory significantly at the gun show.

“I had to come here,” he said, adding that the journey was successful, even if the purchase price was too high.

Charles said he fears the government — state and federal — will target ammunition sales as a way to effectively disarm the citizenry.

The Crossroads of the West event continues from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. today. Admission is $14.

Ron Wolff of Covina says he can hear the clock ticking on citizen-owned firearms in this country.

A number of what many gun owners considered draconian anti-gun legislative proposals last year were not approved.

But Wolff said he feels that government pressures to limit firearm ownership will continue relentlessly.

“I feel it’s just the law-abiding people who are impacted by the gun laws we have,” Wolff said on the way to his car after purchasing some firearm-related accessories.

Wolff said the nation should move to issuing gun purchaser’s licenses after extensive testing, background checks and even a visit with a psychiatrist.

Once issued, the license holder would be able, for a period of five years, to purchase all types of firearms without further clearances.

Future gun buyers would be able to take their purchase home on the day it was paid for — the mandatory 10-day wait would disappear — under Wolff’s proposal.

Like many others, Justin Johnson of Manhattan Beach went to the gun show to find ammunition and ammunition-reloading components. He was successful — except for the popular and inexpensive .22 long rifle cartridge.

That was as scarce at the gun show as it is everywhere else, Johnson and others said.

Beyond ammunition, the focus of the gun show continues to be on so-called assault rifles, specifically one built as a civilian version of the M-16/M-4 U.S. military rifle.

A panic that both the federal and state government would ban assault rifles — especially in the M-16/M-4 “black gun” style — fueled a gun-buying panic a year ago that drew more than 6,000 to the same event in 2012.

There were plenty of complete “assault rifle” styles to choose from, but many gun show attendees spent much of their time viewing component parts and accessories for those rifles.

Business seemed brisk for the vendors selling “upper” firearm assemblies in a variety of calibers to customers who had already purchased a “lower assembly” — which contains the firing mechanism and is the part of the rifle that becomes registered.

“That is the amazing thing about this gun system. You can customize it so many different ways and it is easy to work with, whether it’s swapping barrels or making them look really neat,” said one vendor of “black gun” components, who declined to give his name.

A year ago, vendors were calling manufacturers, begging for complete AR-style rifles or even parts to one.

Not anymore.

“I’ve been getting a number of calls from manufacturers who want to sell me components — and complete guns. That shows you what has happened to supply,” said Jerry Wehunt, owner of JW Guns & Accessories in Riverside.

Wehunt said his business specializes in hunting firearms, and it’s been difficult because the long guns market has shifted so radically to assault rifles in recent years.

“It’s not as crazy as it was last year,” said Jim Autry, a Murrieta gun dealer who specializes in antique firearms, especially old Winchester rifles.

Autry said last year’s time, “people didn’t even know what they were looking for.”

He thinks this year’s crowd is more educated about firearms.

Wehunt isn’t sure this year’s crop of buyers are more knowledgable.

“I just had a guy ask me if this was a single-shot,” he said, pointing to a long side-by-side, double-barreled shotgun.