BOULDER, Colo. -- Permits to carry concealed handguns in Boulder County have spiked to a five-year high last month.

So far in 2008, the Boulder County Sheriff's Office has received 483 applications and issued 428 permits to carry handguns concealed, according to the Boulder Daily Camera.

That's up 16 percent from 2007's total, and nearly double the 219 permits issued in 2005.

7NEWS visited a gun shop in Longmont last week where sales have quadrupled. Some shoppers told 7NEWS they fear President-elect Barack Obama will scale back their Second Amendment rights to bear arms.

Mandatory background checks to buy a gun that normally take just minutes now sometimes take up to three hours.

For a concealed carry permit, applicants pay a $152.50 fee, of which $100 goes to the local Sheriff's Office and the rest to the FBI and Colorado Bureau of Investigation for federal and state background checks.

In Boulder County, 1,916 residents currently hold concealed carry permits, according to the Daily Camera newspaper.

Last month, there were 62,000 more background checks of gun purchases than in October 2007, according to the FBI.