Within weeks of last November's election, parts of the country began reporting an increase in gun and ammunition sales. A look at the latest numbers from Douglas County shows the trend is continuing.

From November 2008 to March 2009, there were nearly 3,000 applications for firearm certifications. Over the same period a year ago, there were less than 1,400.

It's not just a Douglas County phenomenon. It's been a very interesting couple of months at the Double Barrel gun store in Missouri Valley, Iowa.

"Since the election, sales have been through the roof,” says store owner Jody Windschitl. “Honestly, I said we did 33 percent more, but we've done almost $110,000 more in the first four months of this year than we did last year. For a small shop that's a phenomenal amount of sales.”

It's not just guns that are selling. Ammunition is in such great demand that there is now a two-box limit.

So why all this business? Windshschitl says it's fear. "Mostly people are afraid that they're afraid they're gong to lose their right to bear firearms, certain kind of firearms are selling, we've got a lot of crime in the area, a lot of people have had break-ins. I've actually been selling a lot of firearms to women.”

Are the fears justified? Steve Rubes is an attorney and describes himself as “not a gun nut,” but recent legislation is troubling to him.

"The bills that I'm aware of that are being promulgated through Congress as we speak, have to do with the taxation of ammunition and I think that a lot of our leaders in Washington that haven't been able to get stricter controls on the Second Amendment and the right of citizens to possess firearms guaranteed by that amendment are taking another route and going after the ammunition.”

Windshschitl is finding that she has gained celebrity status. An article on the run on guns and ammo has landed her in this week's issue of Time magazine.

Douglas County Sheriff Tim Dunning says he isn't concerned about the increase in registrations, saying he has no way of knowing exactly why gun registrations are up so dramatically. He says he sees an increase in registrations whenever there is spike in crime.