Like other gun shop owners across the country, Lester Blythe has seen a jump in gun sales at both his Valparaiso and Griffith stores since last week's election.

The customers are primarily interested in buying protection-style weapons, as compared to hunting guns, he said.

Fueling this rush is fear that tighter gun legislation is on the way now that Democrats won the White House and strengthened their dominance in Congress, Blythe said.

The fears are not unfounded, he said, considering the last Democratic president, Bill Clinton, enacted a 10-round capacity on new semi-automatic weapons. There is talk of that limit being reintroduced, he said, as well as a tax increase on ammunition.

While the election has clearly reignited the debate over gun control, it is less clear what, if any changes will be pursued by President-elect Obama and his fellow Democrats in Congress.

On the day before last week's election, the National Rifle Association paid to stuff issues of The Times into a plastic bag containing the messages, "Vote freedom first," "Defend freedom," and "Defeat Obama."

As part of the same campaign, the NRA hosts a Web site, gunbanobama.com, that warns Obama would be the most anti-gun president in American history and accuses him of refusing to speak directly about his stand on Second Amendment Rights.

The NRA offices were closed Tuesday for Veterans Day and no one was available for comment.

Attempts to reach a spokesperson for Obama also were unsuccessful, but he too maintains a Web site, fightthesmears.com/articles/17/NRAflyer, calling the NRA's campaign against him "dishonest," "cowardly" and lacking facts.

The Web site includes a link to an interview in Field & Stream magazine where Obama acknowledges the Second Amendment is an individual right and says law-abiding gun owners can't be prevented from hunting or protecting their families. But he also said, "it doesn't mean that we can't have some common-sense gun control legislation," such as background checks.

Obama said he considers the assault weapon ban as part of the common sense approach since guns such as the AK-47 and vest-piercing bullets are generally used to hurt people.

Porter County Republican Chairman Chuck Williams, a gun owner and hunter, said there were enough pro-gun Democrats elected this time around, especially from the south, that he has hope there will not be any sweeping gun-control legislation.

"I don't think there's a liberal consensus in Congress," he said.