With regulations looming, specialty gun shops in continue to thrive

Here’s a look at what’s happening in other parts of North Georgia:

CARTERSVILLE — There’s no mistaking Tyr Defense Industries for just another typical ammo shop.

If Cabela’s is the CarMax of gun stores, perhaps that would make Ryan Smith’s business the firearm equivalent of a Ferrari dealership.

“We’ve been doing a lot of business with celebrities, athletes and a lot of NFL guys recently,” the 35-year-old Holly Springs resident said. “We’ve even got some rappers and music people that are doing stuff with us.”

Smith co-owns the brick and mortar shop at 645 Henderson Drive, Suite 1, in Cartersville alongside Bartow County local Greg Whitton.

They started the business about three years ago.

Not only does Tyr sell the usual assortment of AR-15s and pistols — some of which are decked out in full American flag paint jobs — they also manufacture them.

About 90 percent of their business comes from outside of Bartow, with most of their sales stemming from digital orders.

They even do business with the government. In most cases, Smith said the agencies are the ones that reach out to them.

“We’ve gotten special unit military orders, and those are very defined,” he said. “And then we’ve gotten a lot of SWAT officers and special units, stuff like that.”

Personalized engravings, unique coatings, custom platings, specialized optics — they’re all doing big business these days. As a “premium” dealer, Smith said his business is targeting a more upmarket base than larger retailers like Dick’s Sporting Goods and Academy Sports + Outdoors.

“They’re the people who really know they want something different,” he said. “It’s the same guy who instead of buying just that regular Ford F-150, he’s going to buy a Raptor.”