Ammo Shortage?

Other than a couple boxes of shotgun shells, I haven’t purchased any ammo since I was a kid - dad always made sure we were well stocked, and we never shot much to begin with. But an email from an acquaintance in Oregon got me wondering if there was a shortage of ammo, or if he was running into some local restrictions. An excerpt from his email reads:

Going to do any hunting this fall?
Ammo is really hard to find, I have some, but buying
Anything is really difficult. I did find some .22
Shells at Wal-Mart, but they would only sell me 6
Boxes, so I bought Six, and my wife bought Six!!!
No one else here has .22 shells, I can hardly find
.38 or .357, and brass or primers are no where to
Be found.