I stopped by a friend’s house the other day to visit, and the conversation soon got around to guns.

As we chatted, my friend snapped his fingers and said, “Say, I’ve got a grocery bag full of old ammunition you might want. It’s been lying around for 25 or 30 years, and I haven’t used it, so I thought you might be able to. The ammo is a little dusty, but it’s probably still good.”

He handed me a double-thick grocery bag with about 10 pounds of assorted ammunition. It was almost like Christmas.

When I got home, I dumped the ammo on my backyard table and began to sort it and clean off the grime. There were .22 hollow points and solids, .38 special in-wad cutters for target shooting, ball ammo and hollow points, and .357 magnum snake shot, target, hunting and defense bullets.

There were about 250 rounds. I had really hit the Mother Lode.

The cost of ammunition has risen dramatically in the recent past, and I was curious to know how much my new treasure would retail for.

A day or so later, I pulled into Bass Pro Shops in Manteca to price its ammo. If you haven’t been there, Bass Pro is like Disneyland for outdoor fanatics.

On this day, I was on a mission. I blew past the fly shop, boat displays and camouflage recliners and headed for the gun department. I was shocked when I reached the ammo aisle. It looked like a toy store on the day after Christmas. Except for a couple boxes of oddball European bullets, like 9mm parabellum and specialty Cowboy Action .45 rounds, the shelves were completely bare.

I asked the clerk what the problem was, and she replied, “Obama.”

Inquiring further, I discovered that President Obama is jokingly referred to by the NRA as “The Gun Salesman of the Year.”

I asked if Bass Pro had more ammo on order, and the clerk replied, “Yes, but it won’t make it to the shelves.”

I shouldn’t have been so shocked when I was informed that word of an impending ammo shipment spreads like wildfire. As soon as a shipment arrives, it’s loaded onto a cart and a clerk heads for the shelves.

The clerk explained, “The customers are waiting like circling buzzards. They grab the ammo off the cart and head straight for the register.”

I figured the clerk was just having a little fun with me, so I headed for the Barnwood Gun Shop in Ripon. I knew it would have ammo, but guess what? Same story at the Barnwood — empty shelves, and the clerks were hoping to receive more but weren’t holding their breath.

“Haven’t you heard?” the clerk said. “Everyone is scared … Obama and his buddies in Congress are trying to outlaw ammunition.”

I received an e-mail joke the other day about a fellow who asked his broker what was the smart buy for the future. The broker replied, “Canned goods and ammunition.”

Apparently, the e-mail is only partly a joke. I later read in a front-page newspaper article that millions of Americans are so worried about the economy they’re stockpiling guns and ammo, rice, beans, flour, bottled water and other staples they can put in their closets and garages.

Back at the gun shop, I figured that since ammo was in short supply, I’d up a few extra boxes of primers and cans of gunpowder. Wrong again. There were empty shelves and a shortage of reloading components.

Although I wasn’t a supporter of President Obama, he’s my president and it’s my country, so I wish him the best of luck. I hope he can get the country moving again and stave off a depression.

In the meantime, many Americans may have to rely on their old deer rifle to put meat on the table next winter. Whether we like it or not, the Obama Effect is real.

Until next week, Tight Lines.

• To comment on this week’s Tight Lines, forward messages to Sports Editor Ike Dodson at 239-6351, ext. 306, or e-mail ike@sunpost.net.