Background checks in Colorado for people trying to buy guns have increased more than 41 percent just since Friday’s early morning shooting rampage in an Aurora movie theater.
According to the
Denver Post, firearms instructors around the state also report a jump in enrollment in training courses required for a permit to carry a concealed weapon.
“It’s been insane,” Jake Meyers, an employee at a gun shop and shooting range, told the Post, adding that Monday was “probably the busiest Monday” the store in Parker has had all year.
“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 reported that between Friday and Sunday the Colorado Bureau of Investigation “approved background checks for 2,887 people who wanted to purchase a firearm.”
The paper said checks represented a 43 percent increase over the previous Friday through Sunday and represented a 39 percent jump over the same days on the first weekend of July.
“The biggest spike,” the paper noted, “was on Friday when there were 1,216 checks, a 43 percent increase over the average number for the previous two Fridays.”
The newspaper also reported that the increases weren’t that unusual when compared to periods immediately following other mass killings.
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