Sporting goods store owner Frank Sossamon said South Carolina's second tax holiday on gun purchases definitely brought people into his store. The second tax holiday on gun purchases in South Carolina went off without any apparent misfires this past weekend.

At Cherokee Outfitters on Windslow Avenue, owner Frank Sossamon said the tax holiday definitely brought people into his store, though he couldn’t say how many were solely influenced by the tax holiday since the post-Thanksgiving shopping weekend typically means an uptick in foot traffic.

Sossamon hadn’t yet had a chance to compare sales data from last year’s tax holiday to gauge the overall success of this year’s.

One customer at Cherokee Outfitters said he would have made a gun purchase regardless of the tax holiday if he wanted the firearm, Sossamon said. “But he said it was nice to have a break on the taxes.”

While reports varied from across the state, Sossamon said most of the people taking advantage of the weekend tax break at his store were looking for personal defense handguns.

The tax break applied to handguns, shotguns and long guns, but not to shooting accessories or ammunition.

The amount of the savings depended on the value of the firearm. Sossamon said handgun buyers saved anywhere from $35 to $40 in taxes based on typical prices.

Called “Second Amendment Weekend,” the 48-hour tax break began just after midnight Friday.

South Carolina was the first in the nation to hold a tax holiday on guns last year and is the only state in the nation to offer a tax holiday of any sort on the busy Black Friday shopping weekend, according to the Associated Press. The tax holiday was renewed for 2009 but there’s no word whether legislators will re-enact it for 2010.