Posted on July 24, 2012 by theblaze.com
Just days after the horrifying events in Aurora, Colorado — where at least twelve people were killed and dozens more injured by what police believe to be a lone gunman — the Denver Post is reporting that background checks for people wanting to buy guns in the state have jumped more than 41% after Friday’s horrific events.
“It’s been insane,” Jake Meyers, an employee at Rocky Mountain Guns and Ammo in Parker, told the Post. He added that Monday was probably “the busiest Monday all year” and that the store’s firearms classes are booked solid for the next three weeks.
“A lot of it is people saying, ‘I didn’t think I needed a gun, but now I do,’” Meyers said. “When it happens in your backyard, people start reassessing — ‘Hey, I go to the movies.’”
The Post continues:
Between Friday and Sunday, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation approved background checks for 2,887 people who wanted to purchase a firearm — a 43 percent increase over the previous Friday through Sunday and a 39 percent jump over those same days on the first weekend of July.
The biggest spike was on Friday, when there were 1,216 checks, a 43 percent increase over the average number for the previous two Fridays.
Such increases aren’t unusual in the wake of mass shootings.
After a gunman in Tucson killed six people and injured others, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, in 2010, background checks in Arizona jumped 60 percent over the same date one year earlier, according to the FBI. (read more)
