HOUSTON – Texans are no strangers to firearms and after this Black Friday to Cyber Monday shopping period, it looks like Santa is delivering more guns this Christmas. Despite overall Black Friday spending down 11 percent nationwide, last weekend gun sales increased.
"We bought a couple of guns last week for Christmas," says gun owner Ulises Baltazar. "One for me and one for my wife."
Baltazar added a few more guns to his collection last week. He's one of dozens of customers who helped raise handgun sales at Athena Gun Club in west Houston by 32 percent compared with Black Friday weekend last year.
"We encourage people to get hands on and really get a feel for the firearm," says Mike Jaster, retail manager at Athena.
Operators say contributing factors to the increase were creative advertising through social media and other sources, high concern for personal safety because of current world events, and the lack of supply last year.
"This time last year there were certain firearms that just weren't available," says Jaster. "So this year, the firearms are back available, they're easier to come by, easier to find. So compared to last year we have more to offer."
Handguns were the biggest sellers but assault rifles and shotguns remain popular as well. However firearms, more so than any other Christmas presents, come with serious safety warnings.
"You are not going to give that to somebody that doesn't know how to take care of this," says Baltazar. "Because accidents happen and they are devastating."
The FBI says the federal background check system set a record this past Black Friday with 175,000 checks. On a typical day in 2013, the agency processed about 58,000 checks.