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Gun Sales Increase In Colorado After 12 Killed In Movie Theater

By on July 24, 2012

Background checks for gun purchases spiked 43 percent in Colorado after 12 people were killed inside a suburban Denver movie theater, according to state data.

 Gun dealers submitted 2,887 requests for state background checks required to sell a firearm in the three days after the July 20 shooting, said Susan Medina, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. That’s 43 percent more than the 2,012 requests during the same three days the prior week, and a 39 percent increase over the 2,078 check during the first Friday to Sunday in July.Debate over gun laws after high-profile shootings, like the one police say James Holmes, 24, was responsible for in Aurora, Colorado, often helps spark gun sales. Last year, one-day gun sales in Arizona jumped 60 percent after a gunman killed six people in a Tuscon parking lot and wounded then-U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords.

“It’s sad,” said Larry Hyatt, owner of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Hyatt Guns, which says it’s the largest independent gun store in the U.S. “What we see is a lot of people worried these type incidents will cause more gun laws to be passed.”