Firearm sales in Colorado are surging in 2012 in the wake of the Aurora theater massacre and the abduction-murder of 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway.
Despite a sagging economy, the number of background checks done for the purchase of a firearm has grown 58 percent since 2007, The Denver Post reports.
There have been several unusual spikes in gun sales in 2012 alone. A large spike in gun sales took place immediately following the tragic Aurora movie theater shooting that left 12 dead and nearly 60 wounded. Just days after the shooting, background checks for people wanting to purchase firearms in the state jumped more than 41 percent. And another sales spike occurred following the Jessica Ridgeway tragedy, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigations.
Then just last weekend on Black Friday, CBI set a new record in the state processing over 4,000 background checks on people purchasing firearms -- that's nearly 1,000 more checks than were run in 2011 when CBI set a single-day record of checking 3,031 gun buyers, according to 9News. So busy was the CBI that the flood of new applications crashed the system twice on Black Friday.
Beyond national tragedies in the Centennial State there is another factor that leads some to seek out more firearms -- the fear of tighter gun control under President Barack Obama.
Nationally, a gun sales bump happened close to Obama's election in 2008, and even though buyers' fears have since proven unfounded, Newser reports the fear of a crackdown on guns in Obama's second term has spiked demand once more -- and like clockwork, gun sales spiked following Obama's reelection in November.
“I should put Obama’s picture on the wall up there,” said an anonymous New Jersey gun salesman to CNBC. “I’d name him salesman of the month!”
But Obama may not be the only reason so many are now interested in packing heat. Analysts say a portion of the increase in sales is due to demographic shifts as well.
"The biggest new group of buyers now are senior citizens," explained Larry Hyatt, the owner of a North Carolina gun shop, to CNBC's Closing Bell. "Ten thousand baby boomers a day are turning 65. They can't run, they can't fight, they got to shoot."
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