I've heard it, too.  People next to me in checkout lines talking guns or metals, and someone I haven't seen in a while brings it up out of the blue during lunch.  People I work with talking about going to the range.  It's all over the place.  More gun/ammo talk than metals talk, I've noticed.  One local gun club used to be wide open for anyone to join as of 2 years ago.  Now it's closed to new members and there's a waiting list.