Pick up the morning newspaper or turn on the evening newscast and the story that you’re bound to see is that America is facing an economic recession of historic proportions.  Consumer spending is down and unemployment is up, but there is one item that Americans are rushing to buy -- guns.

Why?  Well, as NRA-certified instructor Joel Rosenberg told the Minneapolis Star Tribune, “It’s the Obama effect.”

Gun sales have skyrocketed ever since it became clear that Barack Obama was going to win the White House and be able to govern with Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress.

The FBI reported that, during election week, background checks used to approve gun purchases soared 49 percent compared to the same week in the previous year.  And ever since the election, both empirical data and anecdotal accounts show that Americans’ interest in buying firearms has continued.

For example, the Illinois State Police conducted 39 percent more “background checks for gun purchases in November” than the agency conducted during that month in both 2006 and 2007, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.  Those background checks led to purchases since “gun sales for November were 38 percent higher than last year,” the Sun-Times noted, citing a report from the Illinois State Rifle Association.

Similarly, in Florida, the Tampa Tribune covered not one, but two gun shows that were held last weekend, leaving the reporters competing for superlatives to describe the large crowds browsing amidst hundreds of firearms dealers.  One reporter observed that the Hernando County Fairgrounds gun show was “packed,” while another reporter wrote that “throngs of people” came to the Florida State Fairgrounds gun show, providing “a steady stream of patrons.”

Indeed, stories from across the country are reporting that Americans attending gun shows and browsing gun shops are openly worrying that the new President and Congress will pass laws taxing, restricting or even banning firearms and ammunition.  As Stephen Lyons, who attended the Florida State Fairgrounds gun show, told the Tampa Tribune: “People are hedging their bets against the possibility that law-abiding citizens won’t be able to buy guns or ammunition to protect themselves.”

These concerns are not without some historic basis.  Americans remember what happened the last time the Democrats controlled both the White House and the Congress -- namely, the enactment of major gun-control legislation, including both the so-called federal assault weapons ban and the Brady Bill.  The same could happen again because Obama’s words and actions haven’t instilled confidence that he respects gun rights.

While the President-elect has continued to insist that he believes in the Second Amendment, he tellingly made infamous off-the-cuff remarks during his campaign that denigrated “small towns” as being filled with “bitter” Americans who “cling to their guns.”  That slip in saying what he apparently really believes combined with Obama’s one-sided voting record against gun rights -- not to mention his now-disowned answer to a 1996 candidate questionnaire stating his support for a handgun ban -- has Americans wondering how long it will be before the new administration goes after guns.

What’s worse, the gun- control lobby is just waiting for January 20 so that they can push restrictions, if not outright bans, on firearms.

Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence, talked up the President-elect in The Hill this week, stating “[w]e’ve been very impressed with Obama’s record in the past on the gun issue.”  The story went on to report that “Helmke told The Hill that Obama has been ‘consistent’ in his beliefs on gun control, specifically in approval of an assault weapons ban and improved background checks, including closing the so-called gun show loophole.”

Indeed, news reports like the one in The Hill have made it clear that the gun-control lobby thinks it is not whether, but when the new administration will attempt to enact gun restrictions.

All of this has, and should, worry Americans, especially since their future ability to fully and freely exercise their constitutional right “to keep and bear Arms” faces greater uncertainty than it has for more than a decade.

Luckily, Americans aren’t stupid, and they have realized that, regardless of the impending political changes in the weeks ahead, they can still go out and buy a gun now -- before inauguration day.  The fact that they are doing so in droves should inform our new President and Congress just how important it is not to use their new political power to impose an old anti-gun agenda.

Only time will tell whether many Americans bought their guns just in time.