Guns and gardens: Utahns dig in for tough times

For the last couple of years, Carolyn Thorne decided to try out gardening in her Eagle Mountain backyard. This year, she's more than tripling her produce. 

"We're just gung ho because of the economy," Thorne said. "It really in some ways emphasizes that we can do something to help us save money." 

Danielle Frazee, a bookseller at the Square Foot Gardening Foundation, says the trend is unmistakable. "During these troubled times, everyone wants to be self-reliant and we've been ungodly amounts of busy." 

But it isn't just garden seeds and fruit trees that Utah customers are snapping up. Handgun and ammunition sales are way up, too. 

"Gun sales are still just as busy as the rush that started in November, but it's ammo right now," said Michael Martin, salesman at Impact Guns. The demand is weighted in favor of calibers for compact handguns commonly used as a concealed weapon. 

That spike was expected as the first three months of 2009 shattered previous records for the number of concealed weapon permits Utah handed out, according to the Bureau of Criminal Identification. 

People don't seem to be panicking, though. Emergency 72-hour kits are selling at the same rates they usually do, said Don Pectol, vice president of customer service at Emergency Essentials, but seeds are in high demand. 

Sales of garden seeds, fruit trees and berry bushes are up throughout Utah. 

"This happens for us every time that the economy 
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goes down," said Steve Law, lawn and garden buyer for Intermountain Farmers Association. "The larger the recession, the better it is for the garden business." 


IFA saw a 20 percent increase last year in garden seed sales, and another 20 percent so far this year, said Ken Holt, home and garden category manager. 

"People want to be self-reliant and want to help their food budget out, too," Holt said. "There's an insecurity about what's going on in the economy." 

Clark Aposhian agrees a general sense of insecurity is motivating consumer spending. 

"There's an uncertainty from everything in the political climate to our financial situation to people's jobs," said Aposhian, chairman of the Utah Shooting Sports Council. "Maybe things won't get better but get worse, and people want to be prepared and rely on ourselves." 

One sign of the craving for readiness is increased participation in the Community Emergency Response Team. It's a state-overseen program that trains residents to help out when first-responders are overwhelmed. 

"The numbers have skyrocketed. We have more and more requests in our communities for the CERT training," said Lani Nisbet, state Citizen Corps program manager with the Commission on Volunteers. "With the economic downturn, people are starting to think in general about preparedness." 

CERT training is by local fire departments, and generally costs only as much as the manual and basic materials. It focuses on being prepared first as an individual, then as a family and then as a neighborhood, Nisbet said. 

Aposhian took the course, and says more of his neighbors and friends have become interested in it. 

"No one knows what may happen to society should everything come crashing down. We have to protect our family, home and food supply," Aposhian said. "It's not a bad thing. It shows self-reliance and preparedness."