The number of guns sold in California has dramatically risen following the San Bernardino shooting that killed 14 people.
Local gun stores said the increase in gun sales started a day after the attack as gun owners feared that authorities could use the incident to curtail their right to possess guns.
"The knee-jerk reaction of politicians is immediately after an event like this to take advantage of it for political goals and will try to restrict the rights of law-abiding gun owners. So there is a natural rush to gun stores to purchase guns and ammunition," Sam Paredes, spokesman for Gun Owners of America, told ABC News, as reported by Time.com.
In Iowa, local gun store Rangemasters Training Center reported that gun sales increased by more than 30 percent in the last few weeks.
Sales are high especially for 9mm handguns and sporting rifles.
"I don't know if it's because of Christmas or the other things that are happening around the world, but we've had an increase in our shop, probably about 32 percent," training coordinator Royal Nahno Kerchee told KCCI Des Moines.
Kerchee said women and those in their 20s bought the most guns.
"It's husband and wife, father and daughter, people like that," he said.
David Ogden bought a gun again after a shooting in Texas earlier this year to protect his family.
"That kind of got me not only wanting to carry again, but training more with my hand gun. If I did see something happen, you know, I could be prepared for my family to protect them," he said.
Polk County Sheriff said the number of applications for permits to carry weapons has also increased.
As more Americans buy guns for protection, background checks on buyers have also increased.
Black Friday became a record-setting day as more Americans were background-checked while purchasing guns.
The New York Times reported that based on FBI statistics, a total of 185,345 people underwent background checks on Black Friday, a 5 percent increase over last year.
The total does not include sales through unlicensed dealers, which do not require background checks, which reportedly account for 40 percent of all gun sales in the U.S.
