Statistics show the surge was seen across New Jersey last month, a reaction law enforcement officials attribute to the worry that more stringent firearm regulations will take effect in the wake of the Dec. 14 school shooting.

"No doubt in my mind," said Capt. Roy Hoppock of the Woodbridge Police Department, where officers even handled gun permit applications on Christmas Eve.

New Jersey's gun laws are already among the strictest in the nation, with a ban on automatic weapons, high-capacity magazines and other components. But it appears residents fear the passage of even stricter measures.

FBI statistics on gun purchases bear out the increase.

In December, the number of point-of-purchase background checks on gun buyers stood at 10,047, up 45 percent from December 2011, when 6,941 checks were conducted, according to the National Instant Criminal background check System, or NICS. The NICS check is the final review before a gun store owner may hand over a weapon.

For all of 2012, New Jersey gun stores filed 85,851 request checks through the NICS system, compared to 60,256 in 2011, a jump of nearly 25,500, or 42 percent.

Firearms rights advocate Frank Jack Fiamingo said concerns about tougher regulations reached a tipping point after the Connecticut shooting, driving many people to file for gun permits.

"I'm sure of it. I'm positive of it," said Fiamingo, 63, an Ocean County resident who serves as president of the New Jersey Second Amendment Society.

Residents seeking permits for the first time often wait months to get approvals, Fiamingo said. New regulations would further deprive people of their rights, he contends.