Data supplied by by the
Colorado Bureau of Investigation shows that from Friday through Sunday, a
total of 2,887 people were approved to buy firearms. That's a 43%
increase over the previous Friday through Sunday, when 2,012 background
checks cleared.
On the Friday and
Saturday right after the shooting, more than 1,200 applicants were
approved on each of those two days. Figures from earlier in the month
showed a low of 820 and a high of 929 approvals on Fridays and Saturdays
through the state's InstaCheck unit.
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Background checks are legally required in Colorado before anyone can buy a firearm at a store or gun show.
Officials did not offer
an explanation for why more people applied to buy firearms. But there
were also spikes after the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting, in which 33
people including the shooter died, and the 2011 Tucson, Arizona,
shooting that left six people dead and 13 -- including U.S. Rep.
Gabrielle Giffords -- wounded.
The new Colorado numbers
do not reveal exactly how many guns were bought last weekend. In some
cases customers might have bought multiple weapons. But it provides some
sense of what is happening.
Some gun shop owners in
the state are not surprised by the numbers. Rocky Mountain Guns and Ammo
in Parker, Colorado, has experienced a jump in sales. Store employee
Jake Meyers said the store is having more foot traffic, and its shooting
classes have sold out for the next two months.
The question of whether
what is happening in Colorado is mirrored around the country won't be
answered until federal data on July background checks is made public in
early August.
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