Gun permit applications in Newtown, Conn., have more than doubled since the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in December, mirroring a nationwide trend of increased gun sales.

Newtown, a city of about 27,000, typically issues about 130 applications each year, but police say they’ve received 79 applications in the three months since December 14, according to the Associated Press.

The city attributes the surge in applications to worries over gun control laws.

“A good percentage of people are making it clear they think their rights are going to be taken away,” said Robert Berkins, records manager for Newtown police.

The applications aren’t just coming from the usual crowd of hunters and sportsmen, either. Berkins told AP some of the applicants said they never thought about getting a gun until their right to own one was threatened.

“It’s just the mentality of people when you tell them that something is going to be banned, well they want to get one while they still can,” Benson said. “We’re all upset about what happened in Newtown, but it doesn’t mean … we want to have our rights taken away.”