The national discussion on gun laws made its way to the Orland Park Village Board meeting this week when the police department asked to make its annual ammunition purchase earlier than normal.

Police Chief Tim McCarthy said it is becoming more difficult to find suppliers with the ammunition needed by the police department because of an increase in demand.

"We have been checking around," he said. "We're finding that ammunition is drying up."

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"There appears to be a fear that assault weapons may be banned both in Illinois and nationally," McCarthy said. "There's certainly a lot of discussion about it. I don't know where it's going to go."

Because such high demand is also increasing prices, he brought his request for an annual ammunition purchase to the board sooner than normal. The board approved a request to buy 38 cases of ammunition for about $9,900 from Ray O'Herron Co., via the State of Illinois Purchasing Contract.

"They said there will be a price increase in February and that demand is extremely high, so we wanted to get our order in promptly," McCarthy said.