Gun Sales, Gun Classes in Colo. Skyrocket After 'Dark Knight' Shooting

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.

A similar increase occurred in Virginia after the shootings at Virginia Tech University in 2007.

Though it's pretty clear how most of America (and now Colorado) feels about defending itself, State Rep. Rhonda Fields (D-Aurora) thinks the state should consider other measures to prevent similar tragedies.

She commented: "I think that's what the conversation needs to be...I don't think that to be preventative, we need to provide or have more guns."

And that's been a common theme. It didn't take long after theshooting for those on the left to start calling for increased gun control.

From Current TV's Bill Press (who said the NRA ought to be called "Murder Incorporated") to a Jesuit priest who claimed gun control was a "religious issue," the narrative was clear: stricter gun laws could have prevented the tragedy.

(Related: Read Nanny Bloomberg's Demand for Full Gun Control)

After it was insinuated that those who defend the Second Amendment are somehow to blame, Rush Limbaugh hit back with the following statement:  “Blaming guns for murder is like blaming forks for obesity.  Someone misused a gun therefore no one’s allowed to have one...This guy would have found ways to do what he did in that theater whether he could have gotten guns or not.”

A CNS News article asked whether the night would have unfolded the same way if someone else in the theater would have been armed.  Would the suspect have been able to shoot dozens of people at random, relatively unhindered, for as long as he did?

It seems Coloradans are answering the question.

Carousel image courtesy of Shutterstock.com.