New York, Nov 18 (ANI): The gun sales have shot in the United States as Americans fear that the Barack Obama Administration will bring stiffer rules for possessing fire arms.

During election week, the FBI did 374,510 background checks on prospective gun owners, compared with 251,804 in the same week last year. Last month, the G-men did checks on 285,894 people buying handguns, compared with 223,141 in October 2007.

It is a significant jump, the Daily News quoted special agent Jason Pack, as saying.

Obama has vowed to protect gun ownership rights, but as an Illinois state lawmaker, he supported a ban on all forms of semiautomatic weapons and tighter restrictions on firearms.

Bucking the national trend, local New York gun shops report no major rise in business, and cops have seen no big increase in gun permit applications.

New Yorkers that have guns often get them from other states, Pennsylvania and Florida in particular. New York City has the toughest gun control laws in the nation, said Evan Thies, a gun control advocate and City Council candidate.

Still, even city gun dealers worry that an Obama presidency will usher in even tougher laws. (ANI)