With the economy in a downturn, we've seen local and national retailers feeling the pain of slower sales. But that pain is not being felt by many in the guns and ammunition business. A lot of them are saying it has to do with politics. President-Elect Barack Obama did not run on a platform of tighter gun control laws. But people say they're afraid Obama and the new Democrats in congress will enact more restrictions on buying and owning guns and ammo. At pawn shops in Wichita Falls and across America … “Annie (and Andy) Get Your Gun" seems to have become the motto. “The day or two after the election, we saw kind of a big rush in a lot of handguns, as well as AR-15 –style guns,” said Michael Morrison (Cash N More co-owner). Morrison says he's seen about a 55 percent increase in gun sales in the last month, compared to the same period of time last year. “I have three distributors that I called looking for that style gun, and they're out of everything right now,” Morrison said. “That's definitely due to the Obama Effect, as they call it." The so-called "Obama Effect" -- sweeping through pawn shops and gun shows. Joe Tom White says this past weekend, it inspired the biggest turnout in 28 years of gun and knife shows. “Those of us that are concerned expect that something will happen – either in the form of putting a 500 percent tax on guns and ammunition, or the outright banning – or there’s even talk about doing away with shows,” White said. “You talk about catastrophic!" Obama has denied plans for any such drastic measures. But still, many are stocking up. Gerald Cardwell says he's taken some measures. “I’ve bought a little more ammunition than I normally would – simply because I think, if they stop selling ammunition or go up so high on it – well, you can't shoot it anyway,” Cardwell said. And even though people are pinching pennies -- they seem to be finding enough change to protect themselves against perceived change. “It’s kind of like anything else,” Cardwell said. “If you want something bad enough, you'll get the money for it." White says guns have always been a good investment. And he says they're even more important in today's economy. “Safety, security,” White said. “If times get hard, people do hard, mean things. And if you get hungry enough, you're likely to come steal my food." Food for thought – on a sometimes explosive topic. Pawn shop owners say ammunition prices have gone up because of the price of cooper and lead have increased. They say people are complaining -- but still buying.