DELRAY BEACH, Florida - November 1, 2008 - Consumers may be cutting back on going out to eat and buying new clothes, but at the Delray Shooting Center off Linton Boulevard, guns remain good as gold.

"Business has gone up dramatically in the past year - the last couple months especially," owner Mike Caruso said. "I'm selling 15 guns a day. ... Let's just say business has been rocking."

Although Florida does not keep records of gun sales, federal data show background checks needed to purchase a firearm are up sharply in the first nine months of this year. In Florida, concealed weapon permit applications in September jumped 52 percent compared with September 2007.

And it's not just any gun. Handguns and semiautomatic weapons, not hunting rifles, appear to be leading the way.

The reasons: a sour economy that some fear will increase crime, and worries about gun regulations if Senator Barack Obama wins the White House.

"There are so many uncertainties right now in the country," said Susan Lipschultz, co-owner of Liberty Guns Inc. in West Palm Beach. "It's the economy, the politics, the concern of an anti-gun Congress and president."

Jeff Lovering, 52, was at the Self Defense Shooting Center in Port St. Lucie on a recent morning, having bought his first gun three months ago.

"I figured I better buy it now," Lovering said of his .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun. "Obama - he's up there in the polls. He's looking like he might win."

Gun sales are up about 10 percent this year, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which analyzed federal excise taxes on firearms sales and the number of checks that went through the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

The recent Florida Gun & Knife Show at the South Florida Fairgrounds reflects the trend. According to an employee, sales of ammunition were up about 20 percent, while handgun sales were up 11 percent. Handguns and semiautomatic weapons in particular are flying off shelves.

Gunmaker Smith & Wesson, in its latest quarterly report, revealed similar trends: specialty rifles and shotguns in the hunting division fell, while sales of other products rose.

Similarly, Lipschultz said the economy has forced some recreational hunters and shooters to cut down on buying new guns, but sales of handguns are up.

And Joe Fordham, owner of Palm Beach Trap & Skeet Pro Shop in Wellington, said he fields daily calls about where to buy handguns, which his store does not carry.