by Jerry Robinson, FTMDaily.com Editor-in-Chief

Yesterday, gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. (Ticker: SWHC) reported record sales for Q4 2012 and its entire fiscal year as demand for firearms continues to soar.

The 161 year-old Massachusetts-based gun manufacturer reported earnings of $78.7 million last year and a net income of $25.2 million in Q4 2012 — a two-fold increase year-over-year from the $12.5 million profits reported in Q4 2011.

Despite reporting record sales and profits, Smith and Wesson explained that its profits could have been even larger if it had been able to keep up with the voracious U.S. demand for firearms.

“Although the company continued to increase its production capacity, it was unable to meet the ongoing demand across most of its firearm product lines, resulting in additional growth in the company’s order backlog,” the Springfield, Mass., company said in its earnings report.

As you can see from the graph below, an increasing number of Americans are buying guns in the wake of recent school shootings and due to an increasing fear of new gun regulations that could come out of Washington in response.