LEWISTON – While Texans are grabbing up handguns and assault rifles in reaction to Barack Obama’s election win Tuesday, no such hysteria has been seen to the north.

“There are so many guns in Maine, political things don’t seem to affect gun sales like they do in other parts of the country,” said Paul Brook, owner of Woodman’s Sporting Goods in Norway.

At that store, a recent flurry of gun sales is more directly related to hunting season than the fact that a Democrat has been voted into the White House.

Even so, there are some signs of panic that a gun ban may be on Obama’s list of things to do. Brook said he sold a military type combat weapon on Monday that would have remained on the shelf if the campaign had not been going in Obama’s direction.

“One young couple came in and flat-out told me they were worried they wouldn’t be able to get a gun like that in the future,” Brook said.

Although there are no immediate indications that Obama has any drastic plans for gun control, stores that sell weapons in some states, most notably Texas, have reported a dramatic rise in sales. Part of that might be due to a National Rifle Association effort to warn people that such a ban might be on the way.

“They want to increase membership,” said Brook, an NRA member himself. “They’ll try to scare the living daylights out of people.”

The tactic might work in Texas but not in Maine. At least, not so far.

“Business has been steady, but quite frankly, it’s hunting season,” said John Reid, owner of Reid’s Guns & Cigars in Auburn. “We’ve maybe sold a couple more handguns, but nothing spectacular.”

It has been only three days since the election, Reid said Friday. Things could change. Even so, he did not expect a spectacular spike in sales like the state experienced in 1992 when Bill Clinton was voted into the White House.

“Things went crazy for gun sellers back then,” Reid said.

Marcel Morin, owner of Pine Tree Trading in Lewiston, knows that many things can influence interest in weaponry. Two years ago, when Winchester announced it was closing, there was a frantic demand for their weapons, even though millions remained available.

Morin does not fear that Obama will clamp down on the right to bear arms. He prefers a wait-and-see kind of stance.

“You’ll see a big interest in buying guns if he actually announces he’s looking for a ban,” Morin said.

Maine may be taking it easy, but in Norway, Brook said he has seen signs that an Obama-inspired interest in guns has spread beyond the borders of Texas. After he sold the gun to the nervous couple on Monday, Brook decided to add a few more of them to his inventory.

“I called the distributor and got laughed at,” he said. “They were out of everything. Their phones were ringing off the hook.”