![\"\"](\"http:\/\/images.smh.com.au\/2012\/07\/25\/3487447\/art-guns-620x349.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
GUN sales in Colorado have soared following the shootings in a cinema that claimed 12 lives and left 58 wounded.<\/p>\n
Background checks on customers who bought guns were up 41 per cent after Friday’s shooting at a packed cinema screening of the latest Batman film The Dark Knight Rises, according to The Denver Post.<\/p>\n
The surge in gun sales and applications for gun permits has confounded expectations that the shootings would lead to a backlash over perceived lax gun control in the United States.
\nA Palmetto M4 assault rifle is seen at the Rocky Mountain Guns and Ammo store in Parker, Colorado July 24, 2012. The killing of 12 people at a midnight screening of the new Batman movie in the Denver suburb of Aurora may spark a fresh round of soul-searching on America’s relationship with guns but few predict any real change in the law. <\/p>\n
Guns on display at the Rocky Mountain Guns & Ammo shop. Photo: Reuters<\/p>\n
The latest figures suggest that the shootings have had the opposite effect and have prompted many to feel they need a gun for protection. Between Friday and Sunday, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation approved background checks for 2887 people who wanted to buy a firearm – a 43 per cent increase over the previous weekend.
\nAdvertisement<\/p>\n
The checks are required before anyone can legally buy a firearm in Colorado.<\/p>\n
One gun shop worker told The Denver Post that less than 12 hours after the shootings, he went to work at Rocky Mountain Guns & Ammo, south of Aurora, to find a queue of about 20 customers waiting for him to open.<\/p>\n
”It’s been insane,” Jake Meyers said.<\/p>\n
”A lot of it is people saying, ‘I didn’t think I needed a gun, but now I do’. When it happens in your backyard, people start reassessing – ‘Hey, I go to the movies’,” Mr Meyers said.<\/p>\n
The figures fly contrary to the debate New York mayor Michael Bloomberg appears to be trying to start.<\/p>\n
After the shootings, Mr Bloomberg lamented that neither President Barack Obama nor the Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney showed any inclination to address the gun laws issue.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Mr Bloomberg suggested police officers were being put at risk by Americans being allowed to carry guns with few restrictions.<\/p>\n
He said he was surprised the officers did not go on strike until the situation had changed.<\/p>\n
”How can anybody run for the highest office in the country where 48,000 people are going to get killed in the next four years and not have a plan?” Mr Bloomberg said.<\/p>\n
There was also a spike in people seeking training for a concealed carry permit, The Denver Post reported.<\/p>\n
Carrying a handgun or other weapon in a concealed manner is legal with a permit in 49 of the 50 states. Illinois is the only state without such a provision.<\/p>\n
Calls for a re-examination of American gun laws mounted after it emerged that Aurora shootings suspect James Holmes bought his four weapons legally.<\/p>\n
Over eight weeks, he stocked up on from the internet on 6300 rounds of ammunition: 3000 for his semi-automatic AR-15 rifle, another 3000 for his two Glock pistols and 300 cartridges for his pump-action shotgun.<\/p>\n
Holmes, a 24-year-old graduate student, also bought a special magazine for his military style assault rifle that could fire up to 60 rounds a minute.<\/p>\n
In Aurora yesterday, Christian Bale, the star of the last three Batman films, met seven patients injured in the shootings.<\/p>\n
Bale, who plays Batman, spent about two hours at the Medical Centre of Aurora with his wife, Sibi Blazic.<\/p>\n
Holmes is being held without bond on suspicion of first- degree murder, a charge that can carry the death penalty in Colorado.<\/p>\n
Photo: Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
GUN sales in Colorado have soared following the shootings in a cinema that claimed 12 lives and left 58 wounded. Background checks on customers who bought guns were up 41 per cent after Friday’s shooting at a packed cinema screening of the latest Batman film The Dark Knight Rises, according to The Denver Post. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=727"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":728,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727\/revisions\/728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}