LOWELL — In the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012 and the public discourse over limiting gun ownership, the opposite happened: Gun permits issued throughout Greater Lowell and Greater Fitchburg spiked in the year after that tragedy.

And when the talk about gun control passed the news cycle and the airwaves, the number of issued gun permits came back to normal levels in 2014, according to figures The Sun obtained from area police departments.

Instead of such a tragedy resulting in fewer guns on the street, gun permits spiked in the wake of the shooting that killed 26 children and teachers in Newtown, Conn. When these events happen, citizens become concerned that new laws will restrict gun ownership, according to area police. As a result, residents rush to the police department before such legislation is enacted.

“With the tragedy in Sandy Hook, there began to be a lot of national talk about making gun laws more restrictive. That was pretty prevalent for several months for good reason,” said Lowell police Capt. Tim Crowley. “I think that scared the heck out of people.

“You had national politicians, celebrities, anti-firearm groups talking about making gun laws more restrictive,” he added. “So people thought before that happens, they need to protect the right that they have.”

Consistently in Greater Lowell and Greater Fitchburg communities, the number of gun permits issued in 2013 were significantly higher than in prior years.

According to Lowell’s firearm division, in 2011, there were 478 new and renewal Class A permits (license-to-carry) and firearm identification cards (FID cards needed to use a shotgun or rifle). In 2012, that number rose slightly to 521. The major spike came after the Sandy Hook massacre in December 2012; there were 843 new and renewals in 2013.

After the national discourse went away from gun control, and residents stopped seeing the president constantly talk about it, the number dropped back down to 467 in 2014.

Chelmsford saw a similar pattern, according to Police Chief James Spinney. A typical year for Chelmsford is 400 new Class A permits and renewals, he said, but that shot up to 900 in 2013.

“The president was on TV a number of times talking about gun control, so that created somewhat of a surge,” Spinney said. “It seemed like residents were worried that they wouldn’t be able to get a gun, so they all rushed out.”

In Dracut, 503 permits were issued in 2012; 703 in 2013; and 373 in 2014.

The same pattern happened in Fitchburg, where 276 Class A and FID cards were issued in 2011. The next year there were 315 permits issued before it spiked to 501 in the year after the Newtown shootings. The permits came back down in 2014 with 297 issued in Fitchburg.

“Normally what I see is a lot of residents trying to get new licenses before any sweeping changes in the laws,” said Detective David Daigle. “An incident happens, then there’s talk about legislation changes, and then we see a lot of new licenses.”

According to Westminster police Lt. Michael McDonald, there were 234 new and renewal Class A permits and FID cards in 2011; that number remained the same in 2012. Then in 2013 after Sandy Hook, the permits in Westminster jumped to 357. But in 2014, the permits dropped back to 177.

“In general, when speaking with residents and the topic of firearms and firearms licensing comes up, they refer to general unrest in society such as rioting throughout the country, home invasions, violence against strangers, and they want to be able to protect themselves (and their) family,” McDonald said.

“I also hear concerns that people fear that government, whether it’s state or federal, is becoming increasingly more anti-gun. I hear things like ‘I’m going to get a firearms license and/or firearm while I still can,’ ” he added.

UMass Lowell Criminal Justice Professor William Fisher said the high-profile gun tragedies before Sandy Hook — the assassination attempt on Congresswoman Gabby Giffords in Arizona and the movie theater shooting in Colorado — also may have led people to obtain a permit.

“There was this cumulative effect of the gun advocacy community saying the government was going to crack down on gun permits,” Fisher said. “People thought they had to get their license immediately, but we’re still waiting to learn the impact of new legislation in the state.”

Last August, Gov. Deval Patrick signed omnibus legislation aimed to reduce gun violence in the state.

The bill lays out a “suitability” process for police to petition the courts to deny a FID card needed to use a shotgun or rifle, authorizes licensed gun dealers to access criminal-offender record information, and increases the fine for failure to report a lost or stolen firearm. The bill also establishes penalties for gun dealers who fail to report a lost or stolen weapon.

The communications manager for the Gun Owners’ Action League, based in Northboro, said it’s positive that police chiefs cannot arbitrarily deny a license. The chief has to prove there’s just reason to reject the license, which is a “good change for law-abiding gun owners,” according to Mike Sweeney of GOAL.

“For us, it was a double-edged sword after Newtown,” he said. “Because nobody wants to see anything like that since it’s disgusting, but then you wonder if there will be gun restrictions because of the actions of these criminals. It’s good to see that the restrictions were not over the top.”

This report includes material from the State House News Service.

Follow Rick Sobey on Twitter and Tout @rsobeyLSun.