The number of people licensed to carry a gun in Greater Lowell has spiked in some communities by at least one-third and as much as twofold in five years, an increase of thousands of people across the area.

The pace has only accelerated in recent months, first with the re-election of President Obama, and then the Connecticut school shooting on Dec. 14, as people look to get permits and firearms, in many cases for self-defense or before there may be stricter gun laws passed, according to interviews with police chiefs and gun-store owners.

“There’s a rush,” Lowell Police Superintendent Kenneth Lavallee said. “There’s a concern with some people that the laws are going to change.”

Recent events may have spurred people to either seek a permit for the first time or buy a new gun, but the trend has been in place since at least 2008, according to the Massachusetts Firearms Records Bureau and New Hampshire police departments.

The rise in gun permits has included every Lowell area community. Class A licenses — the broadest category, which allows the license holder to possess a concealed gun — are up 48 percent in Ayer, 40 percent in Groton and Pepperell, 39 percent in Westford, and 36 percent in Lowell. The smallest increase among 18 Greater Lowell towns was Dunstable, at 16 percent.

“Gun sales across Massachusetts have gone through the roof,” said Jim Wallace, executive director of the Gun Owner Action League, the Massachusetts affiliate of the National Rifle Association. Women looking for better self-defense are the fastest-growing segment, he said.

“When you talk to some of them, they’re really taking self-defense very seriously,” said Wallace, whose group lobbies for Second Amendment rights.

Licenses to carry have gone up even more in area New Hampshire towns, none more than Pelham, which has had a spike of 251 percent — from 76 in 2008 to 267 in 2012. Permits during that time are up 88 percent in Hudson and 59 percent in Nashua, according to the respective local police departments.

Gun-store owners said they’ve seen spikes in people looking to get guns, first when Obama was re-elected in November, and even more so after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings last month. Terry Goode, the owner of Collectors Firearms & Militaria in Pelham, said he saw sales of guns, ammunition and accessories soar by around 30 percent after the Connecticut shooting. Some are looking for self-defense; others, including those who collect as a hobby, are worried about stricter gun laws on the horizon.

“They don’t trust the government,” Goode said. “They’re afraid of what they’re going to do.”

Reviewing applicants

The decision of whether to grant a license rests with local police departments, who conduct background checks and occasionally check references. Most applicants are granted licenses, police chiefs said, but those who aren’t can appeal.

Hudson, N.H., police have been “inundated” with applications lately, Police Chief Jason Lavoie said, attributing it partly to mass slayings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., and an Aurora, Colo., movie theater in the past year.

A couple of factors could account for the increase, Pelham Police Chief Joseph A. Roark said, including a greater public awareness of gun laws and some high-profile crimes that cause people to feel more of a need to protect themselves. Reports have said incidents like the home invasion and murder of a mother in the small New Hampshire town of Mont Vernon in 2009 spurred an increase in gun permits, though Roark did not specifically cite that case as a motivator.

That year, the number of gun permits issued in Pelham rose from 76 to 211. Gun ownership went up 15 percent in Hudson that year, and only marginally in Nashua.

“That’s only natural, if people don’t feel like they’re as safe in their homes as they previously were,” Roark said of incidents like in Mont Vernon. People may have also been more likely to buy home-security systems, he said.

Lowell has a full-time officer position dedicated to review firearms applications, said Lavallee, the superintendent. Those who need a gun for work, such as someone who carries large amounts of cash, or a victim of a crime, may be the most likely to be granted a license, he said.

“I have a strict standard and continue to abide by that standard,” Lavallee said. He estimated that at least four out of five permits were for hunting or sport purposes.

It’s been two years since Lowell had a homicide caused by a gun, Lavallee said: Jan. 1, 2011, when two alleged gang members killed a woman and injured seven others at a party on Grand Street.

Official studies seeking to link guns and violence have come up short.

A 2004 report by the National Research Council said current research and data on guns and violent crime “are too weak to support strong conclusions about the effects of various measures to prevent and control gun violence.” A more comprehensive research program would be needed, the report said.

For example, the report said, there was “no credible evidence” that laws allowing people to carry concealed weapons led to an increase or decrease in violent crime.

There has not been a follow-up study.

Varying laws

In Massachusetts, anyone looking to obtain a gun license must first pass a firearms safety course. The minimum age is 21 for a Class A license (the broadest category, which allows for purchasing, possessing and carrying handguns, shotguns and feeding devices, including concealed guns) or Class B (which allows for non-large-capacity handguns, rifles and shotguns).

For a Firearms Identification Card, which allows the purchase, possession and carrying of nonlarge capacity rifles, shotguns and ammunition only, a person may be 18 years old.

Someone as young as 15 can qualify for an FID card with parental consent.

New Hampshire, which does not have different categories like Massachusetts, has a minimum age of 21 for a Pistol/Revolver License, which allows for concealed weapons, according to the State Police.

Massachusetts has among the strictest gun laws in the country, and one of the lowest rates of gun deaths, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a group that promotes strict gun policies.

Massachusetts, according to the group, is third only to California and New Jersey for the strongest gun laws. Only Hawaii has a lower gun-death rate. The group gave Massachusetts’s gun laws an A-, which tied with California and New Jersey for the best grade.

Massachusetts has some gun laws that promote gun safety and others that fall short, according to the group’s review. Massachusetts, for instance, requires anyone who sells, rents or leases a gun to obtain a state dealer license, bans most assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines, and maintains permanent records of gun sales.

It is one of only six states with bans on large-capacity magazines, one of only seven with bans on one or more assault-weapon features.

On the other hand, according to the group, Massachusetts does not require the reporting of mentally ill people to a federal database for background checks, doesn’t impose a waiting period on purchases, and doesn’t require unlicensed gun sellers to conduct background checks on those making the purchase.

John Rosenthal, founder of the Massachusetts group Stop Handgun Violence, said he’s most concerned with gun purchases made illegally or without background checks. Massachusetts has strong gun laws, he said, but many other states don’t. He predicted stronger gun laws soon in Massachusetts, but not nationally.

“There will be many more Newtowns until Congress finds its backbone, unfortunately,” Rosenthal said.

New Hampshire’s gun laws earned a D from the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, 23rd out of the 50 states.

The state requires handgun dealers to obtain a state license and performs background checks on sales from licensed dealers, but does not require a background check on gun sales from unlicensed sellers, and doesn’t require gun owners to obtain a license or register their guns, according to the group.

Connecticut, the site of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, scored a grade of a B, with the nation’s fourth-strongest gun laws.

Follow Grant Welker on Twitter @sungrantwelker.