California ammunition sales are surging as residents rush to beat the January 1, 2018, implementation of new gun controls targeting ammo sales.

The incoming controls are the outworking of Proposition 63, passed by voters in 2016.

On December 15 Breitbart News reported that California’s war on guns would broaden to include a war on ammo in 2018. These controls include a ban on any ammunition not purchased within the state of California. Moreover, they narrowly define legally purchased ammo as that which is acquired via a licensed dealer in the state.

These controls will not only lessen the supply of ammunition available to Californians, thereby driving up the price for bullets, but will also add processing fees to certain ammo sales, driving up the price even higher.

Right now Californians are buying ammunition at a frenzied pace, getting it at a cheaper price while they can.

Orange County Register quotes AmmoMan’s Eric Schepps, who said, “California has been consistently at the top of our sales, but the biggest difference is that in 2014, about one in 10 packages was going to California. Last year, it was about one in every five packages. Today, every other package we ship is going to a California ZIP code.”

Sales in California have been running well above AmmoMan’s normal sales all year, and have steadily climbed as we draw nearer to January 1.

Here are percentages on how far sales have run above normal each month:

May: 134.6%

June: 134.8%

July: 147%

August: 138.2%

September: 152.6%

October: 151%

November: 173.2%

December: 187.5%

Shepps said “folks that are intent on buying ammo ASAP.” And he said it is evident “there is more urgency among them as we head toward January.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange