Some of the best-selling holiday gifts of 2011 included the Kindle Fire, Canon PowerShot, Levi’s jeans and the Apple iPad, analysts and retailers say.
But locally, this year’s big Christmas winner was the gun, officials say.
“Our numbers have been consistently up,” said Jim Rhodes, store manager for the Sportsman’s Warehouse on Lee Highway.
On Black Friday alone, Tennesseeans bought an estimated 5,414 firearms, up from just over 4,000 in 2010, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Janice Smith, manager for 31 years at Ringgold, Ga.-based Georgia Gun Trader, said purchases in Ringgold are up 60 percent for the year, a trend she attributes to young professionals, and especially women.
“The increase is with the female population,” Smith said. “They’re sent in to take a self-defense lesson, and then they’re buying a gun for protection.”
Smith said that changing neighborhood demographics and instances of violence against women had motivated many formerly pacifistic consumers to consider buying a gun for protection.
“Basically you’re seeing an intense percentage increase in single ladies’ carry permits,” she said.
The TBI reports that for 2011, the number of recorded firearms background checks in Tennessee blew away 2010 figures, shooting up to 347,792 total checks. That’s an explosion of almost 50,000 additional background checks, a 16 percent increase from the prior year.
In December, holiday gun buyers pulled the trigger on 52,259 background checks, up 40 percent from November, according to the TBI.
John Martin, owner of Shooter’s Depot on Shallowford Road, said he opened an extra location in Fort Oglethorpe in 2011 to meet overwhelming demand after his Chattanooga location was mobbed by eager gun enthusiasts.
“What is driving this pistol industry today is not Dirty Harry guns, it’s small, personal protection pistols,” Martin said.
Small guns that fit in a purse are flying off store shelves, he said, and it’s not just because of crime.
“It’s because of the changing social structure,” he said.
Instead of depending on men for their protection as in prior decades, many women are pursuing professional careers and postponing marriage, which can place them in more dangerous situations, he said.
“You’ve got women not getting married, women living with other women, and women who have been divorced,” Martin said. “There are people that are afraid for their safety, and we sell safety.”