Personal Defense

If you’ve been reading Shooting Industry for a very long time, you may remember when this magazine had a monthly feature on dumb things customers did and...

You’ve probably heard (and experienced firsthand): The previous 15 months have resulted in record gun sales. A significant driver of this trend is a rise...

In the January 2021 issue, Shooting Industry kicked off its useful Best Practices column with an excellent article by Doug VanderWoude titled “Best...

Many a gun-shop owner chose to enter the firearms industry because guns and shooting were his or her hobby. Let’s examine a case of such an enthusiast who...

We all know the record-breaking sales of 2020 — driven by COVID-19, the summer’s unrest and presidential election — won’t last forever.

In serving the lawful self-defense market, we’re helping people from becoming prey by successfully warding off predators. It’s a biological truth:

In the past year, several million first-time gun buyers came to stores like yours. They found out firsthand they had been lied to about purchasing guns,...

Not every customer has the budget to walk into your shop and drop thousands of dollars on a premium-quality firearm. You didn’t need me to tell you that,...

Carry optics — a compact non-magnifying red dot sight on a handgun, usually a semiautomatic — has become an extremely hot trend. It hasn’t taken over the

With this issue landing in your inbox prior to Election Day, the outcome is obviously unknown at press time. If Joe Biden becomes president-elect we can

Pocket guns are incredibly popular, especially these days. If you follow online gun forums, you would easily gain the impression pockets just might be the...

One reason your customers buy defensive firearms and related gear from you instead of the Monster Mart or online is you’re the resident expert on their...

Even before the significant boost brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent protests sweeping the country, the defensive shotgun market was far...

Sitting in a shop with shelves emptied by coronavirus-weary and protest-spooked gun buyers, it can be difficult to remember what life was like before...

It became nationwide — even worldwide — news: In the first few weeks of COVID-19’s spread throughout the U.S., people who had never thought they’d...

No dealer reading this needs me to tell them a sales staff who ignores female customers isn’t going to sell much to that market. Ditto to a salesperson...

Editor’s Note: Due to the novel coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the U.S. firearms industry, we asked Massad Ayoob to contribute an article on...

SHOT Show, among other things, is a good place to see what’s trending according to the manufacturers’ market analysts. Here are some products sure to...

There’s a human interest story behind every gun shop, and in each, one or more useful lessons for others in the firearms retailing business. This is...

Anyone in the business of selling anything knows the customer I’m about to describe. This buyer knows exactly what he or she wants, and “no one has made...

In recent issues of Shooting Industry we’ve written on a number of gun shops that have expanded their business operations to include indoor shooting...

Last month, we opened a discussion on the role of the firearms dealer in enhancing security at houses of worship. Attacks on churches, synagogues and...